Harry Potter and the Dimensional Trunk
by Ophiuchus
Summary: Post OOTP. COMPLETED. Harry's 6th year will be another exciting year. How does the trunk Ron gave him help his fight against V? Pre HBP. HG RHr
1. Beginning at Privet Dr

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Harry Potter and the Dimensional Trunk

Chapter 1 Beginning at Privet Drive

The teenaged boy sat at his window staring out at the falling raindrops. He actually almost preferred the rain right now. The sun was too bright; too many people moved about their regular, ordinary days when the sun shone. They didn't seem to realize that things weren't ordinary or regular anymore. At least not for him. Harry's godfather had died just over a week ago. He had fallen through a mysterious veil in the Ministry of Magic right before Harry's eyes.

Harry Potter had been home from school for a week now. It was time to send another letter to his minders, The Order of the Phoenix. He hadn't been sure if it was for real when Mad-Eye Moody told him at the train station to send word every three days. He found out on his fourth day home that they had meant it.

* * *

There had been a knock on the front door. Aunt Petunia shouted for Harry to answer it. "Boy. Get the door!" Her voice as soft as a razor.

Harry had been feeling depressed, sitting alone in his room. Aunt Petunia was cleaning the bathroom but Dudley was in the living room downstairs, near the door. But of course, it would be Harry who should open the door.

He got up and went downstairs. He could hear his aunt following a little ways behind him. He opened the door and saw Tonks standing there in a Weird Sisters t-shirt and a multi-colored pair of ragged jeans. Her hair was a lemon yellow. Harry could hear a gasp behind him as his aunt saw who was at the door.

"Wotcher, Harry! We hadn't heard from you so I volunteered to come to check on ya. How are ya doin'?"

"Hey, Tonks. Has it been three days already? I'm doing fine." It wasn't so much of a lie. He was feeling better seeing her. A feeling inside of him expanded a bit when he realized that the Order did care enough to check on him.

Tonks looked behind him and saw his aunt on the stairs. She had paused and was looking around anxiously as if all the neighbors were gathering on the lawn just to stare at their house. Tonks got a gleam in her eye.

"Harry, I just got a most brilliant idea. I have to say that your clothes never seem to quite…fit you. I think it would be a great idea for me to take you shopping." She gave him a small wink. "Don't you just love my clothes? I could get you some like mine. Ya know, t-shirts are great. I know a little shop that sells some that show other groups besides the Weird Sisters, like the Hobgoblins or you could even get Quidditch teams! I just love to shop. They come in all colors, too!"

Harry heard a funny choking sound behind him. He turned and saw his aunt with a look that combined a gaping fish and someone who smelled something rancid. She was staring at Tonks with a look of horror. She finally found her voice.

"That won't be necessary! I plan on taking him to the shops myself this afternoon."

Harry felt incredulous. His aunt was going to _buy_ clothes for him? He didn't ever remember that happening. He turned back to Tonks with a raised eyebrow. She smirked back at him.

"What a pity. Oh, well, I guess maybe another time." She turned serious and spoke to Harry. "We do want to know how you are doing. I know it's a hard time for you right now, but if you need us, we will be there for you. Owl any of us; me, Dumbledore, Remus, the Weasley's, even Old Mad-eye." Another squeak was heard behind him. "Send us an owl."

Tonks paused and looked around. "You know, we are around, but we were told not to talk to you directly when we're on duty. That way if anyone else is watching it doesn't tip our hand or show our position. So I guess we're stuck with letters. Well, keep your chin up and shoulders straight." Her voice became softer and more gentle as she finished, "He would have wanted you that way." Tonks eyes had shadowed a bit with that. Harry's godfather had been a relative of hers. Then Tonks turned and left.

Harry watched as she walked off down the street until she turned the corner. He slowly closed the door. A feeling of melancholy lowered onto him at the thought of his godfather.

Aunt Petunia was standing behind him. She drew herself up and started in on him. "Boy, didn't you send them one of those letters they asked for at the train? I will not have those freaks coming to my house in broad daylight dressed like…like…THAT! Her hair was YELLOW! No one has _that_ shade of hair! Who would buy wigs that look like that?"

"It's not a wig. She has a talent that allows her to change her looks however she wants; her hair, her face…it's great fun when she changes her nose."

Aunt Petunia was shaking with this overload of information. "I don't want to hear about it! Be ready to leave in an hour. I will not have anyone looking like THAT buying clothes that will be worn in this house." With that she stomped back upstairs.

She had taken him shopping at a local discount store. Dudley always had custom clothes from upper scale stores; he needed them to be custom with how big he was. Harry didn't mind discount, though. He now had several outfits that actually fit him. And as much as he liked the clothes Tonks wore on her, he didn't think it was quite his style. These were just normal t-shirts and blue jeans, but that was good for him. As a token of his appreciation, he offered to help out around the house a bit.

It was quite funny. Aunt Petunia actually wanted to refuse to let him help, afraid that the freaks would think it was abuse. Harry had reassured her that as he was offering, everything would be fine. Aunt Petunia relented and Harry was to help with the outside upkeep and working with the new flowerbeds. Aunt Petunia had a new idea of how she wanted the outside to look since she saw over the garden hedge how the neighbors in Number 6 recently redid the landscaping of their lawn. If Harry was willing to help set it up, she would draw out what she wanted changed and he could work on the digging and carting the dirt back and forth. She could then get the plants she wanted and he could plant and care for them a bit. Dudley was too busy to help with his part-time job at the ice cream parlor in the afternoons and needed time with his friends in the morning, not that he would have been asked to help anyway. Needless to say, Dudley's size hadn't gone down at all and seemed to be increasing day by day. Dudley tended to avoid Harry. Harry thought Dudley wasn't sure how to react to Harry; not knowing if Harry had saved him last year from the Dementors or if Harry had caused those feelings himself. Either way, Dudley didn't like either feeling indebted or want to have those awful feelings back so he just avoided Harry altogether.

* * *

Harry shook his head thinking of the last few days. Helping out with the yard actually helped him sleep better at night. He still got the occasional nightmare, but even worse were the dreams where he and Sirius were happy and laughing together over something and then he would wake up and it would all crash down on him again. Sirius was gone. He had gone just like that. Then he would feel worse than before.

He looked around his room, trying to get his mind off of recent events. He looked at the telly in the corner. Harry still wanted to know what was being said on the news. Last year Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would not let him watch, feeling it was an "abnormal" thing to want to do, but this year they didn't feel like they could forbid him watching it, what with that woman with the strange hair saying that there were freaks all around here. As they preferred it if Harry wasn't watching it with them they came up with an idea. Uncle Vernon came home a couple of days later with a brand new 24 inch television. It was a present to Dudley and had all the fanciest features anyone could dream up. Harry then got Dudley's old television.

Harry didn't have cable hook up in his room, but he could get the local new channels with the help of some old rabbit ears and some tin foil. Everyone seemed happy with this arrangement.

Harry quickly fell into a routine. He would get up, put on a pair of Dudley's old clothes over a pair of new shorts, then dig out and build up where his aunt said to on the grounds for a couple of hours in the morning. In the afternoon, when the sun was too hot to comfortably work outside, he would take off for the park or just mope in his room. He would watch the news after dinner and wait in his room for bedtime, sometimes flipping through his old schoolbooks or his _Quidditch Through the Ages_. He couldn't quite bring himself to look through the _Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts_ book he had received from Sirius and Lupin for Christmas last year. He tried not to think of Sirius. He tried not to think of the prophecy. His dreams and nightmares continued most nights and he started to look more tired.

He was trying to keep his temper under control. He was a bit embarrassed over how he totally lost it in Professor Dumbledore's office after…. Don't think about that. He still had the occasional flare up. He remembered the panic he felt yesterday morning when frustration and anger got too much for him.

* * *

He was digging near a tree and there was a root close to the surface of the ground. This was to be part of a path and he needed this to be smooth. He tried to chop at it with his hand-spade, but it would not cut it well enough. His frustration level grew. He dug away the dirt around it. It was being stubborn. He yanked on it. This just wasn't working. He started to see red. He just wanted an ax or something to chop up this root so he could get it out of the path! His knuckles turned white as he gripped the hand-spade. He heard a thump and a crack coming from the greenhouse and his frustration left him as curiosity took over about what he had heard. It had sounded like something hitting against the window. Harry went to the greenhouse and saw one of the panes had a crack in it. He went inside the greenhouse and found the ax that usually hung on the back wall lying just below the window.

Harry panicked. Did he do that? He wasn't sure. Normally he would look for Dudley to see if he was trying to get Harry into trouble, but Dudley was away with his friends on an outing to the cinemas. What was he going to do? Harry stared hard at the glass with the feeling of panic in his chest. His uncle was going to kill him! He needed to get this fixed. He was tolerating Harry so far, but this would push him over the top. Harry's hands tightened around the hand-spade he still held in his hand. Harry's eyes lost their focus. Suddenly the crack seemed to get fainter and then had just seemed to melt together. Harry felt a wave of dizziness and leaned against the plant table. The window now didn't have any crack in it at all. Harry had his wand with him, but it was in his back pocket; he hadn't used it. Would he be getting a letter from the Ministry? Harry had waited, unmoving, in the greenhouse for several minutes. How long had it taken for the Ministry owl to get to him last year? He had performed the Patronus charm and then had to lug his cousin, Dudley, almost half a mile back to their house. Mrs. Figg had pestered him to go faster the whole way. It couldn't have been more than 15 minutes for the owl to deliver the letter. Harry had sat perfectly still, waiting. How long has it been now? Finally he began to believe that he wasn't going to be getting a letter from the Ministry. Harry gave a sigh of relief, picked up the ax, and went back outside to work on that root.

* * *

Harry had puzzled over what happened the rest of the day and finally just tried to chalk it up to luck and put it from his mind. Harry heard a noise by his door. A paper was being slid underneath it. He walked over and picked it up.

_Remember to write to those people tonight. –Aunt Petunia_

Harry shook his head with a slight smile on his face. To stop any wizards from coming here again, Aunt Petunia was even willing to remind Harry of his schedule. Now, who to write to? He liked Tonks but knew that she was running flat out a lot between her full-time auror position and her work with the Order. He could just picture what would happen if he sent it to Mad-eye. He would probably end up incinerating it before actually reading it trying to make sure it wasn't a trick of some kind. "Constant Vigilance" you know. He still couldn't face writing to Remus Lupin. Remus was now the last true Marauder; the last of his dad's friends still alive (who wasn't a traitorous rat, of course). Over the last year Sirius and Remus had been constantly together, renewing their friendship and now Sirius was gone. The Weasley's loved him, he knew, but they were Ron's parents and he just felt a bit awkward writing to them. What about Dumbledore? Harry hesitated.

Albus Dumbledore was the greatest wizard alive. He was the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the school Harry went to. He was the only one He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Lord Voldemort, was afraid of. He was the wizard Harry had most looked up to…until last year.

Harry had always felt that Albus Dumbledore knew everything. He had always been there for Harry. Harry had gone through quite a lot in his life, especially in the magical world. His aunt and uncle hated magic and denied there even was such a thing while Harry was young, yet every time anything strange would happen, they blamed Harry. Harry hadn't known why things always happened around him. When the letters from Hogwarts started coming for Harry, the Dursleys kept them away from him. Eventually Dumbledore sent Hagrid, the half-giant groundskeeper of Hogwarts. Hagrid became Harry's first friend. In the years that followed, Harry got into quite a bit of trouble, but also ended up helping to save the day quite often. Harry and his friends had saved the Sorcerer's Stone, stopping Lord Voldemort from regaining his body; he and Ron saved Ginny Weasley in the Chamber of Secrets, again stopping the memory Tom Riddle (pre-Lord Voldemort persona) from gaining power; he and Hermione saved Buckbeak the Hippogriff and then his godfather Sirius Black from the Dementors; and then he had been the unwitting witness to murder and the rebirth of Voldemort in his fourth year at school. He had been able to get away with the help of the shade forms of his parents and had brought Cedric's dead body back with him to Hogwarts.

All through these events, Harry had turned to Dumbledore with his doubts and questions. Dumbledore wouldn't always answer his questions, but he had always showed he believed in Harry and helped him with his doubts. Dumbledore had even put his reputation on the line on Harry's word when no one else believed when Harry said that Lord Voldemort was back.

Then came last year. Harry had been frustrated with the lack of news people would give him about what was going on now that Voldemort had returned, even his friends had been under orders not to say anything. Then when Harry had seen Dumbledore, Dumbledore wouldn't look Harry in the face. Harry was confused about Dumbledore's feelings for him then. Was he angry? When Harry returned to school, it continued on. Dumbledore would always try to avoid eye contact with Harry. Harry's visions of what were happening started to increase and he had to admit, he started losing control. His mood swung all over the place. He was told to study Occlumency, but not clearly told why and worst of all, his teacher was Snape. Needless to say, things went badly. Harry had gotten the vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius and was determined to go save him. By this time, the school had stopped being a haven for Harry. Dumbledore had been evicted and was on the run from the Ministry, taking the blame for something Harry did; all the teachers who he believed would help him were out of the castle. There had been no one to help. Harry had decided to rescue his godfather himself. His friends refused to let him go alone. When they got to the ministry, they had found it was a trap. Sirius hadn't been there. Harry had been lured there because he was the only one besides Voldemort who could remove a prophecy from the shelf. Voldemort hadn't been willing to risk going to the ministry at that time and had decided to make Harry do it. He and his friends had managed to get away from the Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, long enough to survive until help arrived. Some members of the Order of the Phoenix arrived and took over the fight against the Death Eaters. While trying to escape, the prophecy had smashed. Then Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, took a hit from a spell from his evil cousin Bellatrix LeStrange and fell through the Death Veil.

Voldemort had been so angry at the loss of the prophecy that he, himself, showed up in the Ministry. He had been about to kill Harry (again), when Dumbledore showed up and saved Harry. The duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort had been like nothing Harry had ever seen. At the end Voldemort even possessed Harry, hoping that Dumbledore would kill Harry in trying to kill Voldemort. By that time, Harry wished Dumbledore would kill him himself. The physical pain of the possession added to the emotional pain of the loss of his godfather had Harry hoping to die. Dumbledore didn't kill him, though, and Harry's emotions had apparently caused enough pain to Voldemort for him to leave Harry. He escaped the Ministry with Bellatrix, but not before being seen by the Ministry officials arriving from the summons Dumbledore had sent.

Dumbledore sent Harry to his office by port-key. Harry had been a mess. Dumbledore's office had locked him in and by the time Dumbledore arrived, Harry had been ready for violence. Harry started trashing his office. Dumbledore didn't stop him. At this point, he explained that he should have told Harry something long ago. He had kept putting it off because he cared for Harry too much to tell him. He then finally told Harry what the prophecy that had been so wanted was about. It had been said that a child would be born that could defeat Voldemort. The first part, the part Voldemort already knew, narrowed down the choices to two boys; pure-blooded Neville Longbottom and half-blooded Harry Potter. Dumbledore pointed out that instead of choosing the pure-blood, which their philosophy would deem to be the stronger, Voldemort chose the half-blood, like himself. The part Voldemort didn't know stated that Voldemort would mark the child as his equal, but the child would have power Voldemort didn't know. When Voldemort had tried to kill him as a baby, the curse left a lightning bolt shaped scar on Harry's head. Then the kicker came. 'Either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives.'

When Harry finally looked up, he saw a tear on Dumbledore's face. That tear is what kept Harry from hating Dumbledore. Harry still felt the pain of loss from his godfather and wasn't sure what to do with it. Talking with Luna had helped some. Working in the yard helped some. Harry had never apologized for the destruction of Dumbledore's office. Maybe he would write to him.

_Dear Headmaster Dumbledore,_

_This is my letter to check in with the Order. Everything is fine here. My aunt and uncle are treating me ok this year. While I am writing, I want to apologize for what I did to your office last week. I had no right to destroy your things. I'm still trying to deal with recent events but keeping busy with yard work is seeming to help. The manual work helps calm me down. Speaking of calming down, are there any books on Occlumency that you know of? I have been trying to 'clear my mind' but I just don't seem to know how. I haven't been having any V related dreams so far. Not that I want to, but if I do see something, what do you want me to do about it? I know they can't be trusted to be true anymore, but sometimes they have been true in the past and I'm not sure they should all be discounted._

_Harry Potter_

Harry debated about asking about the ax and window incident but thought it may be better not to push his luck. If it slipped by their notice, he didn't want to bring it to anyone's attention. Harry looked at Hedwig's cage. She was just waking up. "Hey, girl. I've got a letter for you to deliver if you don't mind." Hedwig gave him a short hoot and flew over to him, landing on the desk in front of him and stuck her leg out.

"Sorry about the rain. I think you could just bring this to Headquarters. Here. Wait a minute."

He added a postscript.

_P.S. Professor, where should I send these notes? Do you want mail going regularly to HQ?_

Harry took the letter and sealed it. On the outside he wrote:

_Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts_

_The 'Everything is fine' letter_

Harry attached the letter to Hedwig's leg. She flew up to his shoulder, gave his ear a nip, then flew out of the window, into the rain. Harry looked after her until she disappeared.

* * *

Hedwig was back by the next morning. Someone must have taken the letter from her and hopefully they would hold it until Professor Dumbledore would be able to read it.

Harry still felt as though there was a wall between him and other people. It had shown cracks a few times; when he talked with Luna at the end of last year, when he was met at the train station by some members of the Order, when Tonks came for that visit. But after a short while, the wall would rebuild itself.

It was the second day after Harry had written to Professor Dumbledore and Harry was in his room listening about some mysterious deaths down in Kent and several people found in comas in a park in Derbyshire that morning on the local news. It was curious that his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ didn't mention anything about the attacks. They sure sounded like Death Eaters and Dementors. Maybe because they were muggles that were attacked that they weren't reporting anything. The _Prophet_ seemed to carry editorials mostly of how the Ministry should have believed Dumbledore and the Boy Who Lived long ago and how now they were all doomed. The articles didn't seem to go into any specifics on who had died in recent attacks or what the Ministry was doing about it now. Harry was frustrated.

The news was just finishing up when there was a sudden flash of fire at the end of his bed. Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix was standing there.

"Fawkes," said Harry. "What are you doing here?"

Fawkes lifted up one golden talon and Harry saw a letter tied to it. He carefully approached the magical bird and removed the letter. Fawkes looked deeply into Harry's eyes and let out a soft trill. Harry felt the birdsong affect him as his frustration leaked away.

"Thank you, Fawkes. You always know how to make me feel better."

Fawkes looked at Harry and with a gentle bob of his head indicated the letter in Harry's hand. Harry looked down and opened the parchment.

_Dear Harry,_

_I was glad to receive your letter. You bring up several good points. First, no apologies are necessary from you, my boy. I feel the greater burden was mine. I should have known that to wait for the right time to tell you, it would never come until it was too late. Belongings are easily repaired or replaced. People are not. I apologize for my short-sightedness. _

It was a strange feeling if you thought that the greatest wizard in the world was apologizing to you. He could feel that Dumbledore really felt what he was writing.

_For dealing with recent events, it may help to talk with someone. I have asked Remus Lupin to stop by your house tomorrow at 1:30 pm. I think it would do both of you good to speak of your loss. Please let me know if this will work for you. If your family has plans that would interfere or you feel it is too soon, let me know, but I really feel it would be beneficial to you both._

A bit of panic was building in Harry. Was he ready to face Remus?

_As for books on Occlumency, I am afraid to say that I know of none. It really is an obscure branch of magic and until recently there has been virtually no cause for anyone to learn it. You are correct that physical labor does help to work out some aggressive feelings and brings a sense of calmness, but most likely not enough for our purposes. I am sorry that I did not bring up different possible methods to help you with this before. There is no one way to clear your mind. It will be something that is personal to you. For me, chamber music helps. I have become quite fond of it. If you can lose yourself in the music, you'll find it has a magic of it's own. Alas, this does not work for everyone. I will have Remus bring you a small Wizarding Wireless for you to try out. It will play different types of music as well as tell of the news. I would recommend that you not listen to the news directly before bedtime as it is not conducive for aiding sleep or clearing your mind._

It hadn't been for Dumbledore to bring up methods of relaxing. Snape was the one who was supposed to be 'teaching' Harry how to do Occlumency. He wondered what the Wizarding Wireless looked like. He hoped it wasn't obviously magical.

_Try to think of things that relax you. Try to relax in a nice bath, or have a massage if someone else is willing to help. Sometimes instead of a totally clear mind, you may be able to focus on one particular thing. Picture a scene or an activity that brings you to a point where you can let go of all your troubles. At that point your mind can let go of everything else not related. Try a few different things. When you find something that works for you, we can try to proceed from there._

He liked to fly. He quite often could lose his troubles that way. Maybe that would help.

_I will have to think about how you can contact us with any visions or problems that you are having. As I'm sure Mr. Arthur Weasley would be first to agree, discounting all of your visions may not be in our best interest. Although, now that Voldemort is aware of the connection, he may be better able to block those visions from his end._

Yes! If he could report whatever he saw, they could follow up on it and if it was true, he didn't have to feel the guilt that he knew something but could do nothing about it. The Order would approach things cautiously knowing it could be a trap. He wouldn't mind if he never received any other visions either if it came to that. Hopefully Voldie could block them. He wouldn't mind not having the pain in his scar that came with the visions.

_You also bring up a valid point about letters regularly going to Headquarters. That would not be the best idea. Neither is the idea of owls going to you. Owl mail is not secure at the moment and your beautiful Hedwig is particularly distinctive. I will have to give this some thought and maybe ask for opinions from a few others. I hope you will forgive an old man for his interference but I also canceled your subscription to The Daily Prophet. The Wireless will be a much safer way for you to get the news._

_I would, once again thank you for giving an old man another chance. You truly have a forgiving heart. Take care, Harry. Your stay with your relatives will not be for long this time._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry put down the letter. He wouldn't really miss the Prophet. There was never real information in there anyway. He looked at Fawkes. He seemed to be waiting for something. Harry started to re-read the letter. Oh, was it ok for Remus Lupin to stop by tomorrow at 1:30? Harry thought of his Aunt Petunia's reaction to any other of his 'freaky friends' showing up, especially if it had been one of his 'awful fathers' friends. The tension had been building up. Harry could feel it. The Dursley's couldn't keep up this tolerance for very long. It just wasn't in their nature. Harry quickly grabbed a quill and penned a short note.

_Professor, Meeting Professor Lupin tomorrow will be fine, but it would work better if we could meet at the park off Magnolia Road instead of at the house._

_Harry_

Harry didn't really want to meet with Professor Lupin, but knew he had to do it sometime. He might as well keep relations with his aunt as smooth as possible while doing it. He tied the letter to Fawkes leg, gave the bird a rub under his beak, and stepped back. Fawkes gave another trill and in a flash of fire, was gone.

* * *

The next day dawned with cloudy skies. It looked like it would threaten rain at any moment. Harry hoped it would hold off until after he met with Professor Lupin. The yard was shaping up nicely. Most of the heavy preparation work was done and it was almost time for planting the flowers. To Harry's eyes it didn't look much different. It went from a square garden with a garden bench in the middle to a square garden with a path going to each side, centering on where Aunt Petunia's new gazebo would be. Digging out the garden bench had been the most difficult thing. It had been reinforced with concrete and was heavy! As it was going to be dumped, Aunt Petunia didn't mind if Harry broke it into pieces, which he did with a sledge hammer he found in the back of the greenhouse. Of course, Harry had to try to keep all of his digging from disturbing any part of the immaculate lawn that wasn't to become new pathway.

Harry ate his breakfast and hurried outside. He was just finishing the back side of the yard, preparing for the block to be put down, making sure the ground was even, when Aunt Petunia came outside.

"Boy! I received a call from the supply store. They said they would be delivering the block today at a quarter to two. You will have to help unload it."

It was amazing how fast asking for help disappeared from her mind. It was back to commands already. Harry shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Petunia, but I won't be here."

"Just where do you think you're going?" she asked in a snooty manner.

"One of my dad's friends is meeting with me at 1:30. I can't break it off."

Aunt Petunia paled and then her face started to tighten into a strong pucker. "The convict? I will not have a freak like him anywhere near my family!"

Harry felt a hammer blow in his chest. "Not the convict. Another friend. And he won't be coming here. I asked to meet with him at the park," Harry said softly. No, he wouldn't be meeting with 'the convict' ever again.

Aunt Petunia relaxed a little. She noticed Harry's expression had closed up. She glanced at him curiously but asked no questions. "As long as they don't come here. I won't stand for any unnaturalness here." She sniffed and turned away.

Harry turned back to his work. His depression weighing heavy on him again. He resolutely pushed it away. "I will not think about this now. Talking after lunch will be bad enough."

Time passed and soon it was time to break for lunch. He went into the kitchen, shedding the oversized clothes as he went. He went upstairs to take a quick shower. Afterward he returned to the kitchen to eat a quick sandwich. Aunt Petunia kept shooting him suspicious glances. Dudley was due home from his friends at any moment. He generally had lunch at home and then played his Nintendo until he had to leave for his job at 2:30. Harry decided he would wait until it was time to meet Professor Lupin in his room.

He checked on Hedwig who was sleeping in her cage and filled her water dish. At quarter past the hour he started down the stairs. He could hear Dudley in the kitchen whining to his mother, "You want me to do WHAT?"

Harry laughed softly to himself. It wasn't that Dudley wasn't strong. Under all that blubber, there was quite a bit of muscle he had built up with his boxing. But Harry didn't think his parents ever actually asked him to do any type of manual labor for them in his life.

Harry walked down Privet Drive over to Wisteria Walk. Mrs. Figg's house seemed dark. Harry wondered what she was doing. Thinking of Mrs. Figg made him wonder if he had a guard following him right now. Harry cut into the alley to Magnolia Crescent and increased his pace. This was the alley he had first seen…. He wasn't going to think of that right now. He followed Magnolia Crescent around to Magnolia Road and started a light jog. He reached the entrance to the park with a few minutes to spare. He sat on the park railing to wait.

After a few minutes Harry saw a man walking towards the park. Harry knew this man. His clothes were a bit worn and he seemed a bit weary. He was carrying a box. Harry jumped off of the rail and approached him.

"Hello, Harry." Remus Lupin looked Harry up and down. He noticed the bags under his eyes. "It's good to see you."

"Hello, Professor Lupin." Harry heard a sound like a crack off to his left.

"Harry, you can call me Remus or even Moony. I have a couple of things for you. Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"There are some benches a way off from the children's play area. We can talk there."

Together they walked towards the back corner of the park. They found a bench that was partially blocked from outside views and sat. An awkward silence filled the air between them.

Harry gathered up his courage and decided to ask a question that he had been thinking about since Tonks visit. "Professor," he started.

"Remus, Harry," he was interrupted.

"Oh, well, Remus, how close do the guards follow me? I mean, can they hear my conversations? Where are they now?"

"To answer your question, your guards keep you in a line of sight, but stay back far enough that you don't have to worry about being overheard. Since I also am a trained wizard, I am your guard for this afternoon."

The awkward silence fell again. Harry stared at a squirrel running from tree to tree. This time Remus broke the silence.

"I have a Wizarding Wireless for you from Professor Dumbledore." To Harry's surprise, Lupin reached into a pocket instead of the box and pulled out a triangular cone-shaped item. It was a hexagon on the bottom, but the sides came up to a point. It was about 4 inches tall and 4 inches around at the base. It had a mother-of-pearl look to it and had different runes on each side. "Professor Dumbledore pre-programmed certain channels for you. When you get to school and can use magic you may change them if you wish, or I could change it for you before you return."

"What types of music is played over the Wizarding Wireless?" Harry was curious. He had heard of the Weird Sisters, but other than that the only music he heard was at Nearly Headless Nick's Deathday party back in his second year.

"Oh, all sorts of music. Some are enchanted to play natural fairy music, or the kind that Tonks likes, or even muggle music. To start it playing you simply have to touch one of the sides. To increase the volume, hold your finger at the point. To lower the volume, touch a bottom edge. To turn it off, touch the same side again." Remus handed Harry the small wireless and Harry stared at it for a while. The silence became thick again.

"So what's in the box?" Remus had set the box to his side and Harry was curious what it was for.

Remus lifted the box to his lap and hesitated, looking down at it for a while as if searching for what to say. "After you had left for Christmas, Sirius remembered some things he had of your father's and started boxing them up for you to give you this summer. I don't know all what's in here, but if you run across anything you have questions on, just let me know."

Conversation died again until Remus remembered something. "Harry, Dumbledore mentioned you wondered about sending owls so regularly to Headquarters and asked for alternative ideas. I was…Well, I was looking through some things in Sirius' room and I found a mirror." Harry stiffened. "I remember that James always had one, too, and they would use those to communicate. I will keep looking for it, but if you run across the mirror in that box, let me know and I can show you how it works."

Harry's breaths started coming in gasps. It was coming. He could feel a huge pressure in his chest building.

"Harry! What's wrong?"

"It's not in the box, Professor. I have it at home, but it's smashed up." Suddenly everything spilled over. The wall between him and others finally fell. "Sirius had given me a package after Christmas and told me to use it if I ever needed to get in touch with him. I wasn't going to let him get in trouble because of me so I buried it at the bottom of my trunk. I never even opened it! For once, I didn't let my curiosity get the better of me and find out that if I had I could have stopped Sirius from dying! It's all my fault! If I had just opened that blasted package I could have used it to find out that Sirius was ok instead of believing Kreacher! It's just not fair!" Harry had tears streaming down his face and he couldn't stop now that he had started.

'I've tried not to think about him all summer so far. I've tried to close off my feelings. I don't know what to do! I dream at night. I dream he and I are laughing together, having a good time, and then I wake up and I hate myself for getting him killed. I miss him so much." Remus reached over and grabbed Harry in a hug. Harry buried his face in Remus' shoulder. He had never cried like this in front of someone since he was a small child. He almost had at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament with Mrs. Weasley, but had stopped himself when Hermione had caught Rita Skeeter. He hung on tighter to Remus.

"Of course, you miss him, Harry. I miss him, too. But you can't bottle up your feelings and expect them to go away. Let it all out." Remus' had tears in his eyes as well. He was gently rocking them back and forth, rubbing Harry's back. "You don't know that if you had used the mirror things would have been any different. I found the mirror in his room. He had been up tending to Buckbeak. He might not have heard you if you had called on it. You know he would never want you blaming yourself for what happened to him. He loved you."

"I just want the pain to go away. After he fell through the veil, I was so angry. I was angry at Bellatrix. I wanted her to feel the pain I was feeling." Harry broke off and looked at Remus in the face. "Remus, I tried to use the Cruciatus curse on her."

"Did it work?" Remus hadn't lessened his grip on Harry, but he had a hesitant look on his face as if he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"No. It knocked her down but didn't cause her any pain. She said I was using righteous anger and that I had to want to enjoy her pain. I hate her. But it still didn't work. Can you get sent to Azkaban if it didn't work?"

"I'm glad it didn't work. No you won't get sent to Azkaban. The only proof they would have would be the Priori Incantatem which comes out as a scream. If it didn't work, the scream wouldn't be there."

"She did scream, but I think it was anticipation or the surprise of falling. It didn't sound like a painful scream."

"Listen to me, Harry. People who use the dark spells and can make them work have something wrong and twisted inside of them. That's the main reason they're called Unforgivables. It's the intent that drives the spell to do the damage." Remus looked very serious. "It is not something I ever want to hear that you tried again."

Harry looked down. "I won't. Remus, I had heard that during the first war with Voldemort, aurors had been authorized to use unforgivables. How could they then?"

Remus sighed and seemed rather sad. "The Imperious was the main one that was used, though a few aurors occasionally used the others. Unfortunately, once you get one to work, there seems to be a bit of a power buzz, if you know what I mean. Many aurors couldn't handle it and went too far. Using that powerful of a spell corrupted many of them. Once it was used in a battle situation it seemed a little too easy to use it in a not so urgent time. Several old friends had to get quietly sent on a 'vacation' after the first war to try to get their priorities back in line. Not all of them made it back. Some ended up in Azkaban anyway."

Harry and Remus stayed together on the bench. Harry finally had some measure of control. He looked, with some embarrassment at the wet patch on Remus' shoulder. "I'm sorry for crying all over you."

"No problem at all. I'm glad you could finally get some of it out. I do have two other things to mention to you. Owl post is no longer safe. You and your friends should not write to each other, but you only have another week here before Dumbledore says you can leave. We'll leave the same way as last year, so dress appropriately. I can get you more details as it gets closer to the time."

"I won't have to go to…" Harry wanted to leave Privet Drive, but he wasn't sure he wanted to have to face Sirius' family home.

"No. No, you will be going to the Burrow. I am currently staying at Headquarters, however. Someone has to take care of Buckbeak." He said the last with a bit of a laugh.

"How are you able to handle this so well?" Harry knew Remus had been as close a friend as could be. He just didn't understand why he wasn't falling apart like Harry was.

"Unfortunately I've had a lot of practice. You never stop feeling the pain but you learn how to deal with it better and move on. Remember, I've been the last Marauder before. At that time, in my heart not only was Sirius dead, but also a traitor. I'm just so glad I had the chance to get to know him again. I try to focus on the good memories."

"Yeah," Harry didn't know what else to say then something came to mind. "Oh. Remus, I don't have my broom. It's still locked up at Hogwarts."

"We'll find it and bring it to you."

"What was the second thing you had to tell me?" Harry tilted his head and looked at Remus with curiosity.

"Um…The goblins have asked that you and I meet with them to go over Sirius' will. Apparently there has been some sort of problem which has held them up, but they are going to go ahead anyway with this meeting."

"What sort of problem? And how do they know he's dead?" Harry didn't understand much about how things were done in the Wizarding bank.

"I have no idea what the problem is. But when a wizard dies, their key materializes back in the bank. This will also trigger a notification if there is a Will present or not. The goblins then verify the contents of the Will against the assets, then disburse them."

"Sirius had a Will?" That seemed like such a somber thing to do. Not like his irresponsible godfather. On the other hand, Sirius definitely had his darker side, too…

"Everyone in the Order has a Will. It only makes sense. Those in the Order face danger more regularly than most. Harry, why don't I go back to your house with you and take a look at the other mirror." Remus got up and offered a hand to help Harry up.

Harry heaved a sigh and took Remus' hand. He let Remus pull him up and Harry picked up with Wizarding Wireless and opened the box to see if there was room in it to put it in. There seemed to be plenty of room, even though the box wasn't that big. Harry looked at Remus with a quizzical look.

"It has an expansion and lightening charm on it." Remus replied. Harry shrugged, put the Wireless in it, closed it back up and lifted the box up. Together Remus and Harry walked back to the entrance of the park, then on to Privet Drive. As they walked, Harry showed Remus where he had first seen 'Padfoot' and where the Dementors had attacked last year. He told him in an amused sort of way of trying to lug Dudley home with Mrs. Figg yelling at him to keep going faster. He told of his summer so far and how Dudley actually had a job. Eventually they reached Number 4.

Harry asked Remus if he would try to be as quiet as possible so as not to upset his Aunt. Remus didn't mind. He pulled out an invisibility cloak and put it on. Together they entered the house and quietly made their way up the stairs to Harry's bedroom. In the bedroom, Harry set the box on his desk and went to the trunk at the foot of his bed and began digging through it. Remus removed the cloak and spent the time looking around, taking careful note of the cat flap and the damaged sill of the window where the bars had been torn loose.

"You are being treated better this year, aren't you? You know, all the stuff they've done to you is wrong, right?"

"They are treating me better this year. The work I'm doing for them I'm doing because otherwise I would go crazy. I needed something to work my frustrations out on and to keep me from getting too depressed. There! I've found it!" He pulled out the casing of the mirror and looked it over carefully. Luckily the glass had shattered, but didn't seem to have fallen out. "Can it be fixed?"

Remus took the mirror and set it on the desk. He took his wand and said "Reparo." The mirror melted back together. He picked it up and handed it to Harry. "Now just say my name in the mirror."

"Remus Lupin," Harry said in a tense voice. He heard a sort of echo of his voice coming from Remus' pocket. Remus reached in his pocket and Harry could see his face in Remus' mirror.

"Hello, Harry." Remus said with a smile. Harry looked at his own and saw Remus' face appear in his as soon as he started talking. "Good. Now to close the connection you just need to say 'Out'." As Remus said the word, Harry's mirror blinked back to his own reflection, but Harry was still showing in Remus'.

"Out." Harry's face blinked out of Remus' mirror as well.

A rumbling sounded across the hall. "Potter! Are you in there? I bet you did that on purpose. Do you know what I had to do? I'm going to make you pay for that!" Dudley didn't sound too happy.

Remus lifted an eyebrow and turned to Harry. Harry just rolled his eyes and waited for Dudley to come in. Sure enough the door burst open and there stood Dudley in all his wide splendor with a fist clenched. He stopped short when he saw Remus standing there with his wand in his hand.

"Dudders, I believe I told Aunt Petunia I had an appointment with one of my dad's friends. Meet Remus Lupin, a close…protective…friend of mine."

Remus had a bit of snarl on his face. "A – pleasure – to meet you. I've heard so much about you. Harry tells me you have a job. Maybe it would be best if you left for it soon."

Dudley had a look of horrified disbelief on his face and his hands were creeping ever backwards towards his bottom. He slowly backed out of the room.

Remus turned back to Harry. "Harry, would you mind showing me what you have been working on so far this summer?"

Harry didn't mind so Remus put the invisibility cloak back on.

Harry opened his door and walked out on the landing. Dudley peeked out from his room and saw Harry was alone and his room seemed empty through the open door.

"Where'd that man go? Is he still in your room somewhere?"

"No, Duds. He turned invisible. You've heard of invisible friends haven't you?" Harry was starting to enjoy this.

Dudley started turning purple. Harry noticed he was starting to take more and more after Uncle Vernon. "Now that's too far fetched!" Dudley started stalking towards Harry.

Suddenly a voice spoke near Dudley's ear. "You wouldn't believe how many far-fetched ideas are possible with magic…. Boo!" Dudley jumped, eyes darting to every corner of the hallway. He squeaked and darted back into his room.

"Thanks, Remus. Now all I'll have to do to get him to keep away is start talking to 'myself'". Harry chuckled as he started down the stairs.

"Glad to be of service, Harry. Anytime at all. Brings back fond memories." the disembodied voice of Remus Lupin replied.

Harry led the way to the kitchen and the back door. He wondered briefly where Aunt Petunia had gone. He led Remus to the back of the yard where most of the landscaping was being done.

"You're sure you are doing this of your own free will?" Remus was a bit concerned that life wasn't any better this summer than the previous summers.

"I need something to do. I seem to have a lot of pent-up anger inside that doing this work has helped release in part."

Suddenly there was a shout. The snarly voice was someone Harry never expected to hear on Privet Drive. "Lupin! Where are you?" A black-clad figure strode around the edge of the house to the backyard.

"Is that _Snape_! What would he be doing here?" Harry's anger from the end of last year started to rise. Remus removed the invisibility cloak.

"Lupin, spending your time coddling the _hero_?" His snide voice grated on Harry's nerves. "Of course, there would be no need for a hero if he didn't create the situations in the first place." A direct hit on Harry. His emotions started to swing between anger and guilt and back again.

'Lupin, they're having trouble with some other of your 'kind'." Remus winced. "Dumbledore asked that you meet with them a day earlier than planned." Snape sneered at Lupin and Harry, taking in the eyes reddened from previous crying. "If you can tear yourself away from this pity party. There's been no great loss as far as I can see…We're down to just two of the famed Marauders now and one hardly counts…" Snape was watching for Harry's reaction.

That was too much for Harry. How dare he come to Harry's house and mock what happened and mock their feelings of loss. Harry could see that Remus was taking it hard, too. Harry felt his emotions boil over. His fists clenched. He wanted Snape away from here. He wanted him to shut up, just stop…

Suddenly there was a wave of force which blew Snape 25 feet across the yard. When he landed he was stiff as a board. Harry and Remus watched in shock.

"What was that?" Remus started to jog over to where Snape was lying. He kneeled down to check him over. "He's stunned. Harry?" Remus looked up with a troubled look on his face.

"I didn't do anything! At least…not on purpose. I never touched my wand. Do you think I did that?" Harry was beginning to panic again. Why was this stuff happening? Was he going to get in trouble for this? What was he thinking? He just blew Snape across the yard and stunned him. Of course he was going to get in trouble for this!

"Remus, am I going to get expelled? Snape will kill me for sure!" Never mind expelled. He would be lucky to still be alive after Snape was revived.

"Since no wand was used, I don't think you'll be in trouble. No owl has shown up yet, though we should probably give them a bit more time before we totally rule them out." Remus stood planning. Harry could begin to see a bit of the Marauder in him as he plotted on how best to avoid trouble. "Professor Snape was looking right at you when it happened, so maybe he saw that you never pulled your wand. We could say that I stunned him because he went too far with his comments."

"He did go too far." Now that Remus was helping Harry, he could start to fume again about what Snape had said. "OK. So if you stunned him, how did we get way over here?"

"Good point. Let's get him back to where we were." Remus pulled out his wand and muttered a levitating charm. Snape's body rose in the air and floated along beside Remus as he and Harry walked back to where they had been talking before. "It must have been about five minutes now. Why don't we sit down here and wait for a while. I'd say another ten minutes and we can say we're safe from Ministry owls. It looks like I may have to leave for a bit. I should be back before we have to come get you. How about I contact you in three days time to make sure everything is all right. If you have a dire emergency, of course, you can contact me sooner than that."

"What are we going to do about Snape?" Harry sat on the ground next to Remus as they both faced Snape's body.

"I think we'll leave him just as he is for the moment. What he doesn't know won't hurt him." Remus smirked a bit. "Do you have any ideas on what just happened?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Sometimes things happen around me. Doesn't that happen to everyone? I've had accidental magic happen before. I've had it happen once before this summer when I was angry about something. You know, like what happened a couple of years back with Aunt Marge. You…know about Aunt Marge, don't you?"

"Yes, I know what happened with your Aunt Marge. Are you saying you didn't use your wand for that?"

"No, of course I didn't. The Dursleys kept it locked up in my truck in the cupboard under the stairs that year." Remus looked shocked. "I keep it with me all the time now, though. Fred and George taught me how to pick locks so I can get my stuff out now when they try to lock it up."

"Harry, I know they recorded wand use, otherwise how would they have known to come out here? You did that without your wand?" Remus was now sitting with his mouth hanging slightly open.

"Well, yeah. The only time I used my wand was when I accidentally summoned the Knight Bus outside when I tripped over my truck after seeing Padfoot." Harry was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

Remus started muttering to himself. "That must be what notified them that something was off then since you're the only wizard around this area. Without a wand? I had always assumed the wand was used for the inflation." He turned back to Harry. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Harry told him of the deal he'd made with his uncle, but how his Aunt Marge was insulting his parents and he just couldn't take it anymore, blew up his aunt, grabbed his stuff and left the house.

Remus listened attentively, frowning in concentration. "You said earlier your uncle locked your wand with your trunk in a cupboard. Did you have to pick the lock to get it out?"

Harry thought for a moment, trying to remember. "Er…no. I was still riled up and it just kind of opened for me. I'm not really sure. I was quite angry at the time. Remus, why are you so shocked by this? Don't all kids do stuff like this? I know wandless magic isn't something that strange. I've seen Dumbledore and Snape do it before."

"Most children tend to have their last bouts of accidental magic just before they attend Hogwarts. You may have some innate ability for wandless magic. You may want to try to see if you can do some wandless magic when you are in control. You should wait until you're back at Hogwarts just in case something should register with the Ministry. Apparition and the Animagus transformation are spells that can be cast wandlessly after learned properly with a wand. But otherwise only a few adults can do big spells wandlessly and they are normally quite powerful witches or wizards. Most people who study for a Masters learn some basics of it. As much as I hate to admit it, Professor Snape is a quite powerful wizard and, of course, Professor Dumbledore is _the_ most powerful wizard. For you to be able to do some at your age really is quite remarkable. Of course, I already knew you had a lot of power. I've never seen anybody be able to conjure as powerful a corporeal Patronus at the age that you did." Remus had quite a proud look on his face.

"That was one of the things I was helping teach the others in the DA. Hermione formed an otter and Cho Chang had a swan and several others had starts. I've told them that it wouldn't be as easy in a real situation, but at least they have the idea." Harry was quite proud of his 'students'.

"That's great. Especially with the Dementors on the loose now." Remus took another look into the sky. "I think that we can safely say that there will be no Ministry owls coming. Maybe you should go into the house before I wake up Professor Snape. Remove a target from line of sight." Remus winked at Harry.

"Probably a good idea." Harry thought Remus had a good bit of wisdom there.

"When we leave, there will be a short while when you don't have a guard at all. Try to stay inside the house, ok?" Harry agreed, said his goodbyes and went back into the house. He watched what was happening from the kitchen window. Remus enervated Snape and Snape got up rubbing the back of his head. He looked around quickly, obviously searching for his favorite target, and Harry could see Remus talking quietly to him. Snape's eyebrows came close together as he listened but he kept a suspicious eye on the house. Finally Remus motioned for Snape to come with him and together they left the yard. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

The sigh had come too quickly. Aunt Petunia came out of the greenhouse. She was livid. Harry started backing away from the window.


	2. A New Way of Life at Privet Dr

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 2 A New Way of Life at Privet Drive

Aunt Petunia slammed the door open to the kitchen and strode in with her hands on her hips.

"Boy! I thought you said you weren't bringing any freaks to this house! Not only one, but TWO! And what was all that with that dark freak flying back through the air!" Aunt Petunia's face was white except for two red patches high on her cheeks. As she passed the stove, she grabbed a frying pan. Harry started edging towards the hallway door.

'I had my precious Diddums unloading that truck, which YOU should have been doing and you repay us like this! You will be going to your room and you will stay there!" Aunt Petunia started swinging the frying pan around. Harry didn't wait. He ran out and up the stairs to his room. Soon he heard the lock click into place.

At least it's only for a week. He could last a week. Harry flopped on his bed. He was now locked in and Remus wouldn't be contacting him for 3 days. Harry could contact him, of course, but he didn't feel this was a 'dire' emergency. He'd ride it out and see how it went.

He looked around his room and his eyes fell on Hedwig. If things went by tradition, his window would soon be boarded up, too. Harry got up to write a note.

_Dear Ron,_

_Hey, mate. Things got a little hot here, but nothing that can't be handled. Just in case, could you keep Hedwig for me until I get there next week? Don't worry about me. I do have a way to get help if I really need it._

_Thanks, _

_Harry_

Harry rolled the parchment and wrote Ron's name on the outside. "Hedwig. Wake up, girl." Hedwig pulled her head from under her wing and took a sleepy look at Harry.

"I know you're tired as it's the middle of the day, but I need you to take this to Ron for me. Then you can stay at the Burrow. I should be there in another week."

Hedwig gave a tired hoot and stuck out her leg. Harry tied the parchment to it and Hedwig took off through the window. Harry watched her fly away sadly then turned and sat on his bed. He hated it when he was here alone. While he didn't like Hedwig missing out on flying and food, he would miss her company. She would quite often help cheer him up. Harry glanced around. What should he do now?

Harry saw the box on the desk. He got up and brought it over to the bed. Sitting cross-legged on the bed, he opened up the top of the box. He reached in and pulled out the Wizarding Wireless.

Then he carefully set the wireless on the small chest by his bed and touched one of the sides. Slow, mournful sounds came out. This seemed like something that Sir Nicholas would have liked for his Deathday party, but not something Harry had any liking for. He touched another side. This side seemed to have some sort of drama going on. Harry listened for a bit, then shook his head. This sounded like one of those day-time dramas his aunt watched on the telly. He touched a third side. This one had familiar music on it. It seemed to be muggle rock music from the 1950's or 60's. He thought it might have been The Beatles. He would remember this side, but touched another. The fourth side was a play by play of a Quidditch game. He would DEFINITELY remember this station. He touched the fifth side. This seemed to be the popular WWN, Wizarding Wireless Network. He heard the announcer mention the next song would be by The Singing Sorceress, Celestina Warbeck. This one sounded somewhat familiar. He may have heard it at Hogwarts. He touched the final side and found the Chamber Music that Professor Dumbledore had mentioned. He listened for a bit. It wasn't doing anything for him at the moment, but he would try listening to it tonight to see if it would help to clear his mind.

Harry switched it back to the WWN and had the volume low. He knew they had news commentaries on this station as well as music and he wanted to figure out their schedule so he'd know when to listen.

Harry reached into the box and pulled out a small hard shape wrapped in a cloth. He unwrapped it and found a shiny badge with a 'HB' on it. This was his fathers Head Boy badge. He pinned it on his shirt and wondered if he would ever get to be a head boy like his father had. He reached into the box again. This time he pulled out a journal. He opened it up and saw it started in his father's fourth year at Hogwarts.

_21-Oct-1974_

_I'm thinking that maybe if I write this down, we'll be able to remember some of what we are doing or maybe just keep from doing stuff twice because we forgot. We have two main projects going on right now; the animagus transformation (which seems stalled at the moment) and the Halloween prank on the Slytherins. _

_For the animagus thing, we've figured out that so far you need to 'meet' your animal but for some reason Hogwarts library seems to be out of books showing us how. Sirius, Peter and I each looked for books over the summer, but none of us have found much success. The Black library mostly has stuff you wouldn't want to read, but Sirius did find one promising book and was able to sneak it in with his trunk. My home library also had two books but none of them are easy reading or have direct instructions. Peter's family doesn't have a library. So we have 3 books which are difficult to read, but read we will! A pity we're keeping this from Remus. He's the one that likes to do research. Ah, well. We **will** get there eventually._

_On to the subject with a bit better progress. The Slytherin prank! Sirius heard that the Chudley Cannons use a misting color charm which lets fans show their support by walking into the mist and changing their robes to orange. Of course, the fans do this voluntarily and it only lasts about 3 hours. Sirius thinks that this would work for us if we could get it to trigger when they leave their common room. I think that we could incorporate a hair-dye in green to complete the pumpkin look. Just in case such an opportunity would arise, I did nick several samples of such items from my mother's bathroom. Remus and Peter are doing research on how to change the hair-dye from black to green and Sirius and I will figure out the trigger needed. I think we can use the passage behind the picture of 'The Sanguine Scott' to get us in the area of the Slytherin dungeon._

Harry flipped slowly through the rest of the journal. His father wasn't a faithful writer by any means. Months would go by without an entry. It looked like this journal lasted through his Hogwarts years.

He wanted to read this but for now he wanted to see what else was in the box. He set the journal aside. He reached inside again and pulled out a small round object. It was in a cloth bag. He removed the bag and found a small golden snitch. Harry held it in his palm and laid his hand flat with an open palm. Nothing happened for a moment but then the little wings unfurled and it lifted into the air. Harry smiled. He remembered the memory of his father playing with this snitch and now here he was. The snitch wasn't as fast as a newer one and was about as easy to catch as Pig, Ron's owl, was. But still, it was entertaining for a while. He caught it easily and put it back in the bag.

The next few items pulled out were letters written to his father. Some were from Sirius and Remus and some from his mother. He set those to the side, too.

The next item in the box was a bit larger than the others had been. It was rolled up in a long roll about a foot long. Harry started to unroll it. It was a circular bullseye. Harry was confused. It didn't look like darts had been thrown at it. Harry flipped it over and saw instruction on the back.

_The Spellseye_

_Improve your accuracy and strength with The Spellseye_

_Place The Spellseye against a wall and fire your spell at this moving target. If you can hit our target, The Spellseye will show you a strength rating from_

_1 – 10._

_Spell to use: Subsisto_

_WARNING: Do not use other spells as they may cause damage to the Spellseye._

Now this he could use if it still worked. How he wished he could use magic right now. Harry thought it must have been one of the stupidest rules to not allow magical use outside of Hogwarts. He sighed and rolled it back up. Best keep it out of sight and remove the temptation. Harry wondered how Sirius ended up with this stuff. Harry scraped out the last few papers out of the box. One seemed to be the Hogwarts Certificate of Completion and the others just miscellaneous letters.

Harry took off the Head Boy badge and put everything except the journal back into the box. At some point the Dursley's would be coming into his room, probably at a bathroom break and he needed to get this hidden before that happened.

Harry looked around and decided he would bury it in his trunk. It should be ok in there. The journal he would keep under the loose floorboard under his bed. That was where he kept his more precious items like his dad's invisibility cloak he'd inherited and his photo album.

He'd not been looking at his album this year so far because he knew he wouldn't be able to keep away from the picture with his godfather in it. He'd been good at avoiding things so far. It was time it stopped. Harry took the album out as he put the journal in. He opened it up to his parents wedding picture. There he was. There beside his parents was his godfather, their best man. Harry caught his breath. The tears came to his eyes.

"I miss you so much, Sirius." Harry hugged the album to his chest.

His attention was caught by the news coming on the radio. He looked at the old clock of Dudley's he had repaired on the side of his bed. It was 5:00 pm.

_An attack today near Diagon Alley. The Chang family who run the Chang Cauldron Shop were attacked by Dementors…_

Harry listened in shock. Could that be Cho Chang?

_The amazing part in this story is that their young daughter, going into her seventh year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was able to hold off the Dementors and protect her mother and brother until help arrived. Unfortunately, her father, Ho Chang, received the kiss after he had been able to summon help for their family. All of the surviving family members have been treated and released from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries._

Harry didn't know how to feel. He felt bad that Cho just had another loss, but also proud that the Patronus charm she had learned was able to save her and the rest of her family. The news went on to report of another attack in Bristol of a family Harry didn't know and mentioned that several muggles died as well.

Harry heard a noise at his door. He turned the Wireless off and flipped the telly on hoping they would believe any noise heard was just the telly. Uncle Vernon walked into the room. He seemed a little nervous and was carrying a hammer.

"Boy, you can take a bathroom break now. You've got 15 minutes. Get moving." Harry grabbed some things and figured he'd take a shower while he had the opportunity. He knew he'd most likely not get such a long break again; that he'd only gotten it because his uncle was going to nail shut the window.

As he moved into the hall, he saw his cousin Dudley smirking at him from his room's doorway and cracking his knuckles. Harry figured he'd better nip this in the bud right away.

"Dudley, I'm not planning on bringing this up to my friends as they have some important things to do right now, but if you even think about hurting me I _will_ call them in and they can and will do a whole lot worse than give you a pig's tail! And don't you doubt that they would come." Harry's voice was low, but full of promise. Dudley backed down and Harry turned and went into the bathroom.

When Harry returned to his room he saw that he had been right and his window was now nailed shut. Unfortunately he noticed his trunk was gone, too, as well as the telly.

"Where's your bloody owl?" Uncle Vernon asked him.

"I told her to wait at the Weasley's."

At Harry's answer Uncle Vernon's face went white. "Y…You sent a message to your freaky friends?"

"I only asked that they keep her until I can get there. Hopefully I'll be out of here in another week. I'll keep quiet until then IF you return my stuff." Harry glared at his uncle.

Vernon's eyes shifted around nervously. He eyes kept glancing over towards where the kitchen would be if he could see through walls; where Harry presumed Aunt Petunia was.

"I…er…I'll get them back to you, but in the morning." Vernon was looking like he was trying to come up with a plan on getting Harry his stuff without Petunia knowing. Harry was briefly reminded of second year, when Ron and he used Polyjuice Potion and turned into Crabbe and Goyle. Ron had made a comment of how bizarre it was to see Goyle thinking.

"Make sure you do. You know, the Order is around and they _will_ notice what's going on. I don't need owls to get the word out." Harry's voice was still low but resolute.

"Yes…Well…I'll just be going now." And Uncle Vernon left the room, mopping at the beads of sweat that popped out around his brow. Moments later Harry heard the lock clicking shut.

Harry heaved a sigh and threw himself on his bed. _Only a week. He could last a week._

* * *

Harry's next few days were a series of highs and lows. Mostly lows. Harry tried listening to the chamber music, but he had been right and it did nothing for him. Uncle Vernon kept his word and the next morning the milk delivery mysteriously didn't show up and Aunt Petunia needed to make a run to the local grocer. During this run, Uncle Vernon brought Harry's trunk and the telly back to his room. "Just keep the volume down, boy."

Harry spent the day flipping through his father's journal and reading some of the letters. The Halloween prank went off well, but the trigger had been able to be traced back to his father and Sirius and they had to serve one of their famous detentions.

Harry tried the music again the next night, but again felt it made no difference.

* * *

The next evening, Harry had a bit of a surprise. He had a visitor. The Dursley's had decided to go out for the evening meal. This was to console Dudley, who had been notified that his services were no longer needed at the Ice Cream Parlor. Apparently, between their losing inventory (he was constantly eating it) and his rudeness to the customers (he would threaten the kids when they took too long to decide what they wanted) they had decided business would be better without him there. So the Dursley's left with Aunt Petunia loudly complaining of how the employers today had no idea of what a good employee was anymore and how dare they damage the psyche of her precious, fragile boy.

Harry was listening to a Quidditch match on his wireless. The Wimbourne Wasps were ahead of Puddlemere United by 60 points when Harry heard the tell-tale creak of the bottom step of the stairs. Harry quickly got off his bed and pulled his wand. He stood behind where the door would open, his foot slightly forward in case the door would be opened violently so it wouldn't smash into his nose. He heard the uneven tread of someone coming up the stairs and pause outside his door.

He heard a rusty chuckle and then, "Relax, Potter. It's just ol' Mad-Eye. Alohamora." The lock clicked open. Harry moved to the center of the room, wand still held in front of him. The door swung open and Mad-Eye Moody stood there. "Good instincts there, Potter. Not lettin' up your guard. I've got a delivery here for ya."

"What did you ask me to get you the last time you were here?" Harry was pretty sure this was the real Mad-Eye, but as he had thought he had known the real Mad-Eye for a whole school year when it was really a Death Eater using Polyjuice, Harry thought it better to be safe than sorry.

The rusty chuckle came again. "A glass of water for my eye. Very good, indeed. Constant vigilance! I've brought you some transportation." Mad-Eye Moody handed Harry his Firebolt.

Harry took hold of it. "I've missed this. I've not seen it for most of a year." Harry gently cradled the first present he'd received from his godfather carefully and laid it on the bed.

"Potter. You want to tell me about this locked door? Did our talk not help? Do you want us to talk to the muggles again, a little more…aggressively? I'll gladly talk to that Dursley fellow again." Moody got that look in his eye that gave the impression that he would greatly enjoy his little 'talk'.

Harry didn't want to stir up any more trouble. "The talk went just fine and I really appreciated it. Uncle Vernon still is leaving me alone as is my cousin. My aunt is another case, though. She can only be pushed so far and I think she's reached her limit. Any more and I would probably not be welcome back here. Not that I'd mind overmuch, but I know there is some sort of protection because of her blood tie with me. I think it is better if I just stay quiet and let the time pass. I know how to pick the lock and can get out when I need to. As it's only a week before I leave here, I think it's best just to let it play out."

Moody looked at him with a bit of respect and a lopsided grin. "You know them best, Potter. But if you ever want any help, just give a wave from the window and we'll be here. With your window closed like that, how does your owl get out?" He looked around with his magical eye. "Where is she anyway?"

"I sent her ahead to the Burrow to wait for me there. I didn't want her trapped here, too."

"Sent to the Burrow, eh? When did you send her?" Mad-Eye got a calculating look in his eye.

"I sent her the day before yesterday. Hasn't anyone mentioned seeing her?" Harry started to get a bit worried. Just now he was remembering how Remus and Dumbledore said that Owl post wasn't currently safe and here he sent her out with a note attached.

"It wasn't mentioned to me, but we'll keep a lookout for her. Well, keep on your toes, Potter!" and with that he turned and left again.

* * *

As the door was already open, Harry thought he might as well stock up a bit on the food. The cold tin of soup he got wasn't the most appetizing. Keeping the lights off he made his way downstairs to the kitchen, put his soup in a bowl and heated it in the microwave. While it was heating, he scouted for food items that wouldn't be missed and collected a small pile. After the soup was ready he ate it then washed the bowl he'd used. After putting everything back the way it had been before he came down he again made his way in the dark with his small pile of food back upstairs. Back in his room he got out the hairpin and re-locked his door. He put the food under the loose floorboard.

Harry was getting a bit worried about Hedwig, but tried to put it out of his mind. It probably just wasn't mentioned that Hedwig showed up at the Weasley's. No use worrying until he knew if he had something to worry about. Harry tried to get back into the Quidditch game that Puddlemere was now losing by 110 points. Harry wondered how Oliver Wood was doing. Last he heard he was still on the reserve team, but with how the current keeper was doing, maybe he'd get a chance to be bumped up to the regular team. Harry got out his broom polish and started to work on his broom. He heard the Dursley's return home and eventually it was time to try to sleep.

Harry kept his broom close and closed his eyes. He thought of flying. Chasing after the snitch. Umbridge's toad face leapt in front of his mind. Banning him from ever playing Quidditch again. 'Focus, Harry.' Flying. He could almost feel the breeze in his face, flying on his Firebolt. His godfather gave him his Firebolt. Sirius falling through the veil…

_Harry was standing in the corner of a dark room. There was a large, throne-like chair in the middle of the room in front of an elaborate fireplace. In the chair was a tall, thin man staring into the fire. A sound in the back of the room caught his attention. The tall man turned towards the sound._

"_Wormtail! Has Bellatrix reported in yet?" The tall man had a high, cold voice._

"_Not yet, Master. But I have heard from Goyle. He said that the Dementors are not pleased about what happened at the Chang's. They are not pleased that a young girl was able to hold them off. They want another family."_

"_I don't care what they want. I want to know how that girl was able to form a Patronus! That is not something you could learn by those idiotic Ministry Fliers. There should have been no survivors. Tell Goyle to take Flint and Fermot and finish off that family! I want no failures."_

"_Goyle said his son reported that Potter had taught several students defensive spells during the last school year…"_

"_POTTER! That brat just keeps getting in my way!" A surge of anger welled up…_

And Harry woke up.

* * *

'Flying obviously didn't work.' Harry thought to himself as he pressed his palm tightly on his forehead on the scar that connected him to the Dark Lord. He fumbled for his glasses and sat up in bed.

"Cho!" Harry reached for his mirror.

'Remus Lupin!" Harry's voice was urgent.

"Harry?" A sleepy looking Remus Lupin appeared in Harry's mirror.

"Remus, I just had a vision. Voldemort was angry about the Chang's surviving the Dementor attack and was going to send Goyle, Flint and someone named Fermot over to finish off Cho, her mother and brother. Can you let someone know and check it out? Please?" Harry's voice was pleading.

Remus had woken up now. "Don't worry about it Harry. I'll pass the message along and we will investigate it."

"Remus, tell them to be careful, ok?" Harry was afraid it was another trick. He was so grateful that he had someone to talk to. It wasn't all his responsibility to decide whether it was real or not.

"They will be careful, Harry. Out." Remus' face disappeared.

"Out." Harry took a deep breath and set the mirror back down. He didn't want to sleep anymore tonight. He turned on the wireless softly to the WWN. He heard the announcer say that the next song was an oldie from The Hobgoblins. Harry knew that group from somewhere. Luna's Quibbler article last year. Stubby Boardman was the lead singer. The Quibbler had an article about how Sirius Black was really Stubby Boardman. Sirius. He took out his album. He found his godfather's picture again.

"I'm trying, Sirius. I'm trying to make sure I don't mess up so badly again." Harry's thoughts turned back to Hedwig. He wondered if he had messed up there. He wished he felt he could bring that up with Remus now, but he would wait until he normally would speak to Remus tomorrow night. Harry eventually drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Harry awoke with burning in his scar and a fleeting feeling of anger that didn't feel like his own. He found the wireless was still on. He adjusted his glasses on his face and slowly sat up.

…_and now for the latest headline news…Three suspected Death Eaters were lured into a trap late last night and arrested. Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt confirmed that three suspected Death Eaters broke into the Chang residence and were apprehended. Ministry aurors had staked out the place and were ready when the suspects entered the home. The Chang family is safe at an undisclosed location…_

Harry let go of the breath that he hadn't known he was holding. They were ok. He hadn't failed.

Harry spent the morning reading some more of his father's journal. He read of a few more pranks his father and his friends had pulled off. They weren't always against the Slytherins, but the Slytherins did seem to be the favorite target. He also reported of pranks done by the Slytherins. Most pranks he wasn't sure should even be classified as 'pranks'. Some seemed rather dangerous. There was the time Sirius found he was the victim of a leg-locker curse at the top of the moving staircases. If it wasn't for James skill in catching the Quaffle, Sirius might have been pretty badly injured. Many of their pranks seemed to involve some sort of bodily injury or trips to the hospital wing. Snape's name came up a couple of times as one who would cause some of these trips. He was apparently quite talented at potions even then and used that knowledge to get the others.

In the afternoon, Harry heard his name being called from his mirror.

"Remus!" Harry picked up his mirror and smiled in it. "It worked!"

Remus laughed. "Yes, it worked. The Order was able to get some Aurors to the Chang's and set a trap. The Chang's were sent to a safe house for a short while until the Ministry sets up a few more wards around their house. They each will also have an emergency port-key to use for the rest of the summer."

"I'm so glad." Harry sat back and smiled. "I was worried it might have been another trap. How was the Ministry convinced to send the aurors?"

"They are paying Professor Dumbledore a bit more attention lately. On the other hand, Harry, I take it that the Occlumency is not coming along too well?" Remus arched an eyebrow.

Harry scowled. "No. I'm trying some different things and hopefully I'll run across something that will help me clear my mind. But I haven't run across the right thing yet."

Harry could see Remus run a hand through his graying hair. "Harry, what is this I'm hearing about you being locked in your room again? Do you want someone to come out and talk to the Dursleys?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Aunt Petunia witnessed our little confrontation a few days ago and it kind of pushed her to the edge. Anything more and I think she would go over it. I can last it out. By the way, have you been in contact with the Weasley's at all? Have you heard if Hedwig's all right?"

Remus looked concerned and said, "She turned up yesterday morning. She seems a bit ruffled and has an injury on her side, but is already almost better. She didn't have any note with her, however. Moody said you had sent a note. What did it say?"

"I don't remember exactly. I think I just asked Ron to watch over her for the next week." Harry scrunched his forehead trying to remember what he wrote.

"You didn't say you were going there, did you?" Remus asked.

"I just don't remember, Remus. I don't think I said it outright, but I may have implied that I would be seeing him. I don't know. You think she was intercepted?"

"It's a strong possibility. Just who intercepted her and why?"

* * *

Harry spent the next few days passing time, just waiting until he could leave. He listened to the Wireless and read more letters. He tried to keep depression at bay, but being confined didn't give him any outlet for working out any bouts of grief or aggression. Harry heard once from a rushed looking Remus to confirm that he would be picked up on Friday night at 8:30 pm. They would fly to the Weasley's and the next day attend the Will reading in Diagon Alley.

Finally Friday arrived and Harry had everything packed. Harry heard the Dursley's leave. They had taken lately to going to the Symphony each Friday evening for a nice family outing. Grunnings had season tickets and Vernon managed to get seats near his boss. This made it convenient for planning for when the best time for the Order to pick up Harry was. Harry picked the lock on his door and went downstairs to wait.

At 8:30 there was a knock on the door. Harry opened it to find several people waiting outside. After verifying they were who they said he let them in. Remus was near the lead and Harry gave him a brief hug. Remus looked him over. Harry had some shadows in his eyes again.

"Remus, my trunk is ready. I'll just run upstairs and get it." Harry started to turn away when Remus grabbed hold of his arm.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but you won't be able to stay with the Weasley's just yet."

Harry turned to look at Remus. Not stay at the Weasley's? "What do you mean, Remus?"

"There has been increased Death Eater activity in Ottery St. Catchpole. We believe they're staking out the Weasley's waiting for your arrival." Harry instantly got an alarmed look in his eyes. "The Weasleys are safe enough right now. The wards around their house are enough to hold off several Death Eaters, but if they would attack enforce, we are afraid they would fall. We do not believe that the Death Eaters would use that much force…unless they were given a great incentive to do so, namely having you there. I'm afraid you will have to come back here after this weekend." Remus looked like he would rather be saying anything other than that to Harry.

Harry was beginning to panic. He convinced himself he could last a week, but the rest of the summer? He didn't want to go to Sirius' house either, but if it was between that and the Dursley's…"What about Headquarters with you?"

"No one is staying there regularly at the moment. I have to go back out as soon as this weekend is over. Dumbledore believes it would be better if the Weasleys stayed at the Burrow this summer. Buckbeak was temporarily moved to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid until plans can be finalized for him to be moved to a preserve in Romania that Charlie found. You can't stay there by yourself."

Harry's shoulders slumped. Remus put his arm around his shoulders and guided him to the steps. "Let's pack a few things in a bag for this weekend. It will be alright, Harry. We'll figure something out. We'll be staying at Headquarters tonight instead of the Burrow. It will be safer for everyone that way. You'll see everyone tomorrow. Ron and Ginny seem very anxious to see you."

Harry turned without a word and headed upstairs to his room. Remus followed behind with a sad look on his face. Harry opened his door and led the way to his trunk. He opened it and started sorting through the clothes, pulling out some to wear for the next day. He then found his bag of items for the loo and pulled that out as well. Remus brought out a backpack from his robe and put the stuff into it.

"Is there anything else you want to take?"

Harry thought for a moment then pulled out his invisibility cloak and handed it to Remus. "For sneaking back in." He had his wand and a cloak out already for traveling. He grabbed his Firebolt, silently turned and went back out the door. Remus followed behind him. In the hallway, Harry turned back to the door and locked it. Remus looked at him confused.

"Why did you do that?"

"If I have to come back it would be better if they never knew I had been missing."

Remus still looked confused. "Wouldn't they find out in the morning?"

"No. They don't necessarily see me when they unlock the door. I have to listen for when the lock unclicks. If I miss it…well, that's my problem then, isn't it?" Harry said a bit sarcastically.

"Oh, Harry…We will figure out something. I promise."

"Red sparks! That's the first signal!" Dedalus Diggle's voice called from downstairs, as excited as ever. He had made his way to the kitchen window to keep watch.

Everyone made their way through the kitchen and out the back door to wait in the garden. Remus looked around at the completed garden.

Harry noticed and said, "They paid some contractors to come in and finish up the job. I saw them drive up earlier this week." Harry looked around. It still looked as boring as before to him. Everyone mounted up and got ready to fly.

Off in the distance they could see a bit of a green cloud rising in the air.

"That's the wrong direction, and it's not sparks. Something's wrong!" Kingsley Shacklebolt's low voice broke into the waiting silence.

Everyone watched as the green cloud slowly formed a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth. Harry stared as if in a trance. It was forming not two miles away.

Remus came running over to Harry. Kingsley Shacklebolt started issuing orders. "Remus, you take Harry with your emergency port-key. We'll go and investigate what's happening over there."

Remus took off the simple gold chain around his neck. He held it out for Harry to touch. Harry closed his eyes and touched it. Remus said something under his breath, then counted backwards. "Three…Two…One."

There was a sudden pull and rush of color and sound. When Harry landed, he stumbled against the wall. He leaned there for a moment catching his breath then slowly slid down it to sit on the floor. "I absolutely hate port-key travel." he said quietly.

Remus bent down to help Harry up. Harry just looked up at him. Remus tilted his head to the side then sat down beside him.

"Why do you hate port-key travel?"

"The first time I used a port-key was for the World Cup. Death Eaters had their little rampage there and that was the first time I'd ever seen the Dark Mark. The next time I used a port-key was the 3rd task. First I was taken to see Voldemort get his body back, then I came back to Hogwarts with Cedric's body right into the arms of Barty Crouch Jr. The fourth time was right after Sirius died. Dumbledore made one for me to get back to his office. And now this. Someone who lives near me is getting attacked. I've never used a port-key where something bad hadn't just happened or was about to happen. I hate port-key travel." Harry shrugged.

"I'm sorry Harry. If there had been another way…You know that the port-key itself doesn't cause these things to happen."

"Oh, I know that logically." Harry said impatiently. "It's just hard for me to think about that mode of travel. I know it's something I'll get used to. I'll have to." Harry paused for a while then looked over at Remus. "How long do you think until we know what happened?"

Remus sighed and told Harry he just didn't know. They both sat there a little while longer. Harry finally leaned forward and used his broom he still had in his hand to get to his feet. He helped Remus to stand and squared his shoulders. He looked around and jerked in surprise. They were in the entrance hall to Number 12 Grimmauld Place in front of the closed curtains of Mrs. Black's portrait. Their voices must have been quiet enough to not disturb her. Remus motioned with his hand and Harry silently followed him.

Remus led him up the stairs. As they passed the House Elf heads, Harry noticed a new one. Kreachers head was added to the end of the line. "I guess I don't have to ask what happened to Kreacher."

Remus shook his head. "He did it to himself somehow after he betrayed Sirius. He was laughing while he did it."

They continued on to the room he had shared with Ron the previous year. Remus put the backpack with Harry's things on the bed. Harry looked around. The portrait of Phineas Nigellus was empty. Harry started feeling edgy. "Could we go somewhere else?"

Remus nodded and they left the room. Remus took him down to the kitchen and started making some tea. Remus told him a bit about staying here alone. He seemed to like going on the missions as much to be able to get out of here as to help The Order. Harry couldn't blame him. He knew what it was like being somewhere you didn't want to be and if something needed doing that you could do elsewhere…of course, he should go.

They slowly drank their tea and had a few biscuits until a knock was heard at the door. Well, more like the screams and shouts of Mrs. Black were heard after she heard the knock at the door.

Remus and Harry hurried into the entrance hall and Harry opened the door while Remus dealt with Mrs. Black. Hestia Jones hurried in. She was slightly out of breath. They all made their way back to the kitchen. Harry got another mug and poured her some tea. She sat down and took it gratefully.

"It was mostly over. When we got there only one Death Eater was still around. The family was all dead. It was a muggle family. Last name of Evans."

Harry's mouth opened. "Evans?" He looked at Remus and raised an eyebrow.

"They couldn't have been relation. Lily said she had no extended family."

Harry's eyes suddenly widened. "I wonder if that was Mark Evans family. Mrs. Jones, was there a boy around eleven there?"

"Yes there was. A pity."

"Did you know Mark Evans, Harry?" Remus asked.

"Not really. Dudley and his gang went after him last summer after Dudley became too scared of me."

Hestia Jones just seemed confused at this but Remus understood and Harry didn't feel like explaining. Remus closed his eyes. "What happened to the Death Eater?"

"He got away. When we all showed up so quickly he just apparated out. Kingsley tried to pick up the trail, but he must have had this pre-planned and made a few jumps and used a port-key. The others are working on clean up. We think it was just a coincidence that it happened where and when it did. The rest should be here soon."

Soon the others started coming. Harry waited in the hall for them so they wouldn't have to knock loudly and Mrs. Black's portrait wouldn't start her screaming. Harry followed them down to the kitchen and while they all talked to each other about what happened, he got them all some tea. Harry just stayed quiet and out of the way. He had always had quite a talent at not being noticed when he wanted. The Order members started comparing this attack with others they had seen or heard of. Harry learned more now than he had from the Prophet or the Wireless. There had been attacks almost nightly, somewhere, but mostly in the muggle areas. The attacks against wizards were mostly Dementor attacks and those were mostly against half-bloods or muggleborns. Mr. Chang had been a half-blood who had spoken out against the Dark Side.

Eventually Remus did notice Harry was still there and motioned for him to leave the kitchen. Remus went with him to his room. "You will have a long day tomorrow, Harry. Why don't you turn in for the night. After going to Gringotts for the Will reading, a group of us will be getting together here to remember Sirius."

Harry just nodded and turned towards the bed. Remus quietly left the room.

* * *

The following morning Harry woke up early. He got up and made his way to the kitchen. Harry started getting the ingredients together to make a couple of omelets and made some toast. He was frying the omelets when Remus made his way down to the kitchen.

"That smells good. What are you putting in there?"

"It's mostly bacon, cheese and some leftover ham I found. You want some?"

"Of course! I usually only have a bit of toast because I have to admit that I can't cook one bit."

Harry placed the omelet and a few strips of bacon in front of Remus. Remus reached over and grabbed a few pieces of toast off the warming plate. Harry poured him some pumpkin juice and Remus laughed. "I feel like I'm back at Hogwarts!"

"Yeah, well…" Harry had his own plate ready and sat down across from Remus. Together they ate their way through the rest of the breakfast. "You know, Remus, I am pretty self-sufficient. I can take care of myself."

"You cannot stay here alone, Harry. You helped clean it out last year. You know there are things in here that could cause injury. Someone else needs to be nearby to get help."

"OK! I'll give it up."

"You don't have to give up on staying here, just on staying here now. I promise I will figure some way for you to stay here, even if I have to cancel my mission."

"No. Don't do that, Remus. I'm sure that's more important than my wanting to be away from the Dursleys."

"Harry, you're important, too. At least to me. We, as the Marauders have let you down too many times. It's time for that to stop. I swear I will find some way to have you leave the Dursleys. Next week is the full moon, but I will figure something. Marauders Honor." Remus had a very serious look as his eyes gazed into Harry's.

"Thanks, Moony." Harry had a half-grin on his face, but the look in his eyes was guarded, like he couldn't let himself really believe. Remus decided that he would do everything in his power to get the belief back in his eyes.

Harry gave a mental shake. "So what time are we supposed to be at Diagon Alley? And how are we getting there?"

"We will have an escort coming here around 10:00 am and we should meet with the goblins at 11:00. We should start getting ready soon."

Harry and Remus concentrated on finishing their breakfasts and then went upstairs to get dressed.

* * *

Shortly after 10:00 Harry and Remus met with their escorts. Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody were to form the guard for Harry. Kingsley led them to a mid-sized car. Kingsley and Mad-Eye got in the front while Tonks, Harry and Remus were in the back. They drove to where the Leaky Cauldron entrance was. Kingsley parked the car and they got out. Kingsley took the lead with Mad-Eye in the rear, eyeball rolling to the back of his head under his bowler hat watching behind them, and Tonks and Remus were on either side of Harry. Harry hated this.

They made their way through The Leaky Cauldron and out the back to the entrance of Diagon Alley. As they made their way down the Alley, Harry would occasionally see other people he knew, mostly Order members. As they were passing Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, Harry noticed Cho Chang sitting with Michael Corner at one of the tables. She looked up as he passed.

"Harry!" Cho sprang out of her seat and ran towards Harry. Michael got up as well and stood a ways off watching. "Harry, I'm so glad to see you!" Cho's eyes were beginning to tear up.

"Cho, I heard what happened. I'm sorry for your trouble." Cho was very near Harry now and threw herself into his arms. Harry closed his arms around her and Cho burst out in tears.

"Oh, Harry. I want to thank you. If it hadn't been for you, I don't know what would have happened." Harry tensed. Did she know about his vision? Harry didn't think anyone knew about that.

'It was so awful, Harry. I couldn't do it! I tried to think of a happy memory just like you taught us, but all I could hear were the screams about Cedric being dead. I couldn't form my Patronus. All that came out was some mist. You had told us that it would be harder and that it was serious, but I just thought they were pretty. When I needed it, I couldn't form one and my father…my father…" Cho broke down again. Harry relaxed a little. She was thanking him for teaching the Patronus Charm.

"It's ok to grieve for what happened to your father. Let it out. Remember your father was a hero for getting help to the family he loved." Harry tightened his arms around her. She gave a shudder and collapsed into more sobs.

"But I failed them! I couldn't form a Patronus. If I could have done it maybe my father would have been saved."

"Cho, I know more than most that you can only do the best you can in the situation. To second guess afterwards is bad for you. Instead of focusing on blaming yourself, remember your father loved you and wanted to save you. Everyone has problems with that charm sometimes. Dementors are evil and very powerful. At the time you COULDN'T do the charm. If you could you would have. Accept that it was something you had no control over. Even getting the mist to hold them back is a major accomplishment. YOU saved your mother and brother."

Most of the storm seemed to pass and Cho eventually pulled back and looked up at him. "You really are something, Harry." She gave a small smile. She finally noticed the small group around Harry.

'Professor Lupin and Professor Moody! And you two are two of the Aurors who came out to our house a few days back, aren't you? Are you all with Harry?"

Remus Lupin smiled at her gently and replied, "Yes, and I'm afraid we need to get to our appointment."

Cho turned to Harry with a curious look. "Oh. Where do you have to be?"

Harry gave a sad smile in return. "We're going to Gringotts to hear the reading of my Godfather's Will. He was killed a short while back."

Cho reached over and grabbed Harry again. This time to give him a hug. "I'm so sorry…" Tears started falling again.

Harry looked over to Michael Corner and nodded to him. Michael came over and took Cho's arm to lead her away.

Harry and his entourage continued on their way.

* * *

As they entered Gringotts, Harry was pounced on by Ron and Ginny.

"Harry, mate! Good to see you. What happened to your shirt?" Ron eyed the wet patches on his shirt with curiosity.

"I ran into Cho outside." said Harry.

Ron grimaced. "Enough said." Ginny got a sympathetic grin on her face.

"What are you guys doing here?" Harry hadn't known they would be at Gringotts.

Ginny answered him. "Oh, Mum and Dad needed to come to this thing, too, so we asked if we could come along so we could see you."

Mrs. Weasley hurried up to them. "Oh, Harry. Let me take a look at you. You look tired. Are you sleeping all right?" Harry couldn't answer her question as he currently couldn't breathe in one of Mrs. Weasley's hugs.

"Let him breathe, Mum. Things will be fine, Harry. You'll see." Ron grinned at Harry. Ginny was, too. Harry thought they were taking things a bit lightly. _They_ didn't have to go back to the Dursley's.

Remus walked over and touched Harry's shoulder. "We need to go in now."

He guided Harry over to a door. Harry looked back and gave a half wave to his friends. He saw them and the rest of his guard heading for some seats on the other side of the bank. As he entered he saw that the group consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Remus, himself and some other lady he didn't know. She had black hair, with a bit of gray at her temples. She had a very aristocratic heart-shaped face and a reserved expression. When she saw Remus, she smiled. Her whole face changed and Harry could see a bit of laughter in her eyes.

"Harry, let me introduce you to Andromeda Tonks. Andi, this is Harry Potter." Remus smiled at the slightly older woman.

"I'm pleased to meet you. Are you Tonks mother? Sirius' cousin?" Harry was curious. He could see a bit of both of them in her; her aristocratic good looks and dark hair like Sirius and the heart-shaped face of Tonks.

She was giving Remus a withering look. "What is it with these nicknames? Andi, indeed! Only you kids ever called me that! And I don't know why my Nymphadora doesn't use her proper name. Just 'Tonks'. Really. She was as lovely as a wood nymph when she was born so I gave her a beautiful name." She gave her hand to Harry to shake.

Harry could understand. Teenagers, at least muggle-raised teenagers would more likely think of nymphomaniac rather than a wood nymph. Harry just smiled and shook her hand.

At that time a goblin came in. He walked over behind a desk and said in a high, slightly squeaky voice, "Shall we begin. Please take a seat."

Everyone found a seat; Andromeda Tonks sat on the end, then Remus, Harry, Mrs. Weasley and Mr. Weasley. The goblin continued. "Welcome to Gringotts. My name is Mordrack. We are here for the reading of Sirius Black's Last Will and Testament. All present should include Remus Lupin, Harry Potter, Andromeda Tonks and Arthur and Molly Weasley. All are present? Yes? Then we shall continue." He spoke quite quickly. Another goblin entered the room carrying a box with the Black Family Seal on the front of it. He placed it on the desk in front of Mordrack and quickly left. Mordrack ran a long finger along the top and it parted like a ziploc bag. He reached inside and lifted out several parchments. He started reading the first parchment.

"_I, Sirius Black, last remaining Black male descendent of the Most Ancient House of Black, do hereby bequeath the following:_

_To my favorite cousin, Andromeda Black Tonks, I hereby leave twenty-five percent of all liquid assets in the Black Family Vault, number 238, as well as twenty-five percent of all liquid assets in my personal vault, number 859. Andi, I hope you do well with your life. By the way, I've met your kid and you've done a good job raising her."_

Andromeda Tonks had a small smile on her face and was slightly shaking her head back and forth. Harry heard her mutter. "Him and those nicknames."

"_To Arthur and Molly Weasley, I hereby leave five percent of all liquid assets in vaults 238 as well as vault 859. I thank you for being there for Harry while I couldn't. Please continue to be there for him when he needs support."_

Mrs. Weasley had tears in her eyes. She reached over to Harry and took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Mr. Weasley gave Mrs. Weasley a pat on her other arm.

"_To my godson, Harry Potter, I hereby leave my Triumph Motorcycle to be held in the care of Remus Lupin until you come of age, if you haven't already, as well as half of all remaining assets. I love you, Harry. I know you don't need any of this money as your parents left you enough, but it's all I have to give. I love you like you were my own son. Keep out of trouble or at least try to._

Harry felt tears in his eyes. Money wasn't all he had had to give. He had shown Harry love at every turn. That was worth more than money. That was everything.

"_To my friend, Remus Lupin, I hereby leave the other half of all remaining assets. This includes any property owned. Take care of Harry. Try to keep Molly from coddling him too much."_

Harry heard a small _humph_ to his side. Molly didn't appreciate that comment.

"_And take care of yourself, too. You're a good friend. Don't cut yourself off from others. You and James are my brothers._

'_Now I hope you all can remember the good times we had. Now go have a party in my name._

The goblin looked up at Remus. "Here is where we have the problem, sir. The next section lists the assets of Mr. Black and under property it lists that there is a house, but it doesn't give the location. I'm afraid you and Mr. Potter are owners of a house, but we cannot tell you where it is. We have been trying to find the property for weeks to no avail. I know we had record of it before. We will continue to try to scry the location, but I felt this meeting could not be put off any longer."

Remus shook his head. "I know of the property. I'm sure when the time is right it will appear back on your papers."

The goblin nodded. He took the bottom sheet of parchment out and handed it to Mrs. Tonks and indicated she should pass it along. "Very well. If everyone would place their hand on this sheet one at a time to verify your understanding and acceptance of the proceeds, we can conclude. Mr. Lupin and Mr. Potter, there are a few additional details that should be sorted as to how you want the liquid assets disbursed. Stocks cashed in or their value paid out from your shares."

Harry was confused. He didn't know anything about any of that stuff. Remus took pity on him. "Harry, will you trust me to take care of it for now? We can go over this later."

Harry gave a sigh of relief. He nodded at Remus and the goblin and left with the others.

* * *

Ron and Ginny met him back in the main lobby. Andromeda Tonks walked over to Harry. "I'm glad to meet you, Harry. It sounds that Sirius cared a lot for you and I can tell you cared a lot for him. I'm glad he had that love in his life. He had gotten so little while growing up." She looked over to Tonks. "Nymphadora, dear, will you be coming over later for dinner?"

Tonks rolled her eyes at her name. "I don't think so. I have a late shift tonight." She gave her mother a hug and Andromeda left.

"You looked like a lovely wood nymph when you were born?" With those words Harry was on the receiving end of a glare from Tonks.

"You will forget anything my mother may have told you. You _will_ call me Tonks."

Remus came out from the goblins' office and walked over to the group. "Well, shall we get going?" Together they left. At The Leaky Cauldron, Ron told Harry that they'd see him soon. They needed to go home first and then they'd show up at Headquarters later.

* * *

When they reached Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Harry got out of the car and went to the kitchen. He started making himself a sandwich. Remus came in the kitchen a little later. "You may want to save some room for the food later. There will be quite a bit of food here. People will start coming here around 2 pm."

"Where is the motorcycle that Sirius mentioned? I don't remember seeing it before."

"It's actually upstairs on the top floor. There is a rooftop entrance that Sirius made last year. That's how Buckbeak came in and out as well."

"Oh. Can you show me?" Remus agreed and the two went up to the top floor to Mrs. Black's old room. Remus walked over to double pocket doors that Harry believed to be a closet. Remus slid the two doors into the wall. A small corridor was behind them which went about 5 feet before becoming a ramp going up into the ceiling. A trap door lay across the ceiling. In the front part of the corridor was a black motorcycle.

"This exit is charmed to put a temporary disillusionment charm on whoever exits. Sirius would take Buckbeak up here to get some fresh air and a bit of exercise. The disillusionment charm only lasts an hour, but at least they got some air."

"I never thought about what Buckbeak did for exercise." Harry was closely looking at the bike. "I used to have dreams when I was younger about a flying motorcycle. I guess it was from when Hagrid brought me to the Dursley's on this. How in the world did Hagrid manage to ride this? This is just a normal sized bike."

"This bike has charms to adjust to the rider. There are a few other enchantments on it as well. I'm not sure I remember them all. Someday we'll have to try to figure them out."

After a while, they returned down the stairs. It was now almost 2:00. A knock came from the front door. Remus opened it and Mrs. Weasley walked in carrying several bags. Behind her came Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, Ron and Ginny. Each were carrying some sort of box or bag.

"Down to the kitchen, now." Mrs. Weasley whispered.

Each person tiptoed down to the kitchen. Ron hurriedly put his bag on the table and went over to Harry. He looked quite excited.

"Hey, Harry. I have something for you. An early birthday present." Mrs. Weasley looked fondly over at Ron. "My Grandmother Prewett died a month ago and Mum got some of her stuff. We got these two trunks that Grandmother had kept after my Uncles Gideon and Fabian died. One was going to be for Ginny and one for me. But I was thinking. Since I know your trunk had that 'thing' happen to it I thought that I would let you have mine."

Harry was suspicious. What 'thing' happened to his trunk? Ron seemed to be giving him a silent message to play along. Remus' head came up sharply and he looked intently at Harry.

"Oh! That's great Ron. I didn't know what I was going to do." Ron grinned at Harry in approval. Mrs. Weasley looked like she was about to burst with pride that her son was willing to give his inheritance to his friend when his friend needed it so badly. Harry wasn't sure why he needed a used trunk when his trunk was fine, but he'd play along for now. Maybe Ron could explain later.

Ron pulled a small box out of a shirt pocket. "I'll explain how it works. It has a shrinking charm on it. All you need to do is put your thumb over this design on the top like so and put your other thumb on this other design on this side. Mum can cue it to you, can't you Mum?"

"Of course I can, dear. Come over here, Harry." Mrs. Weasley positioned Harry's hands on the box as Ron had said, "_Agnoscere_". The box began to grow into the size of a trunk. Harry opened it and saw it had more room in it than the outside would have you believe. In the bottom of the trunk was a letter.

"That's my birthday letter for you. Read it when you get home, OK?" Ron was still looking at Harry very intensely and Ginny, also, seemed to almost bounce with anticipation.

"All right. Thanks, mate." Harry closed the trunk again, placed his thumbs on the two designs and the trunk shrunk back to the size of a box. Harry picked it up. "I'll bring it up to my room."

Mrs. Weasley commandeered Ron and Ginny into unpacking bags and boxes and setting out the food from them. Harry brought the box to his room and put it in the backpack then returned downstairs. He was assigned to let people in.

Dedalus Diggle came in with Sturgis Podmore. They had instruments with them. Dedalus had bagpipes and Sturgis had a stringed instrument. Hagrid came and gave Harry a hug. Harry half-hoped Madam Pomfrey would come next so she could check for broken ribs. Professor McGonagall came next with Hestia Jones. Professor Dumbledore came alone.

Harry looked at him with a sad smile. "The next great adventure, Professor?"

Dumbledore smiled at him. "Yes, Harry. The next great adventure."

Harry made his way up to the drawing room. There were a lot of groups with "Do you remember when…"s and short bursts of laughter following whatever story was told. When the music started, Mrs. Black's portrait started screaming, but no one could hear her over the music. A few people danced to some of the tunes. There was stew set out on a table along the wall with a pile of bowls and silverware next to it. Bread and cheese was set out throughout the room and there was Butterbeer and Firewhiskey flowing. Fred and George came over to Harry and Ron and handed them two glasses. Harry and Ron looked at them suspiciously and wouldn't drink until Fred said, "We wouldn't prank you today, mate. The only prank this one contains…"

"...is one that you'll want. Believe us." George continued.

Harry decided to give it a go and downed a large gulp of it. He immediately started coughing and felt his throat burning up until it hit his stomach. From there the warm fire gently spread through his whole body. Ron was watching Harry with curious dread, wondering what would happen.

"Firewhiskey?" Harry gasped.

"All Right!" Ron quickly chugged some back and started coughing as well.

Fred and George were laughing. "We charmed the glasses to look like it's only Butterbeer."

After that the afternoon came in and out of focus for Harry. At one point he made his way to the kitchen. There he saw Bill and Charlie playing a card game with Dung and Kingsley.

Back in the drawing room, Fred and George made their way to Harry with another charmed glass which they gave him before Mrs. Weasley herded all her younger children off back to the Burrow.

At one point Harry was sitting by himself along the wall just watching everyone enjoy themselves. There were a few tears shed every so often, but overall the feeling was an indulgent reminiscing. Professor Dumbledore sat down next to Harry.

"How are you doing, Harry?" The Professor was looking at Harry with concern.

Harry shrugged. "I just don't understand how people can enjoy themselves at something like this."

"Most have done their initial grieving already. They all miss Sirius, but in this tradition the gathering of friends and family after the death is to help encourage and uplift each other."

Harry nodded to the Headmaster and Dumbledore stood back up. "Harry, you, ah, should probably discontinue your consumption of that…interesting…Butterbeer in your glass."

Harry glanced guiltily at his glass which was only a quarter full. "Yes, Headmaster," he said with a half-grin. Harry didn't know how Dumbledore always knew this stuff, but Harry resigned himself to dumping it out. Harry got up and made his way to a nearby bathroom sink to dump the contents of his glass.

A few more hours and Remus made his way over to Harry. "I think it's time for you to return to Privet Drive." Remus seemed to be a bit relaxed and Harry wondered how many Firewhiskey's he'd had.

Harry and Remus went to Harry's room and got the backpack.

"How long will this continue downstairs?" Harry wondered at what point people would leave. Some had left earlier, but others were still coming or looked to be quite settled in for some time.

Remus sighed and smiled. "They say, 'the sleep that knows no waking is often followed by the wake that knows no sleeping!'"

"Oh. How will I be getting back to the Dursleys?"

"Professor Dumbledore had a special port-key made for you."

Harry stiffened. "Please, Remus. Not a port-key. What about the Knight Bus?"

"That's too public. We don't have a full guard to escort you and I don't think those downstairs are necessarily in shape to guard you."

Harry's eyes lit up. "What about the Triumph? You said that puts a disillusion charm on you as you leave. We shouldn't need more than an hour if we fly. It's dark out."

"Harry…"

"Please, Remus. You know my history with Port-keys. Don't make me take one tonight."

Harry could see Remus debating with himself. Harry pleaded with his eyes as much as he could. Remus finally folded.

"All right. We'll take the bike. Come with me before I change my mind. Dumbledore will probably blow a gasket when he finds out."

Harry practically dragged Remus up the stairs and into Mrs. Black's bedroom. He opened the pocket doors and then went to the roof doors to open them. Above them the stars were shining. It was a clear, warm evening. Remus pushed the bike up the ramp. As he passed through the door, he disappeared. Harry could only see him a bit when he moved. Harry followed him out of the door and could feel the cold sensation like an egg was broken over his head. He looked down and saw he was disillusioned as well. He closed the roof door.

Remus got on the bike first and Harry climbed on behind him. He could feel the bike lengthening to fit the two comfortably. They took off for the skies.

It was great. Harry gave a whoop and he could feel Remus laughing. The trip went all too quickly. Remus landed in the Dursley's back yard. Together they made their way to the kitchen door. All was dark inside. The Dursleys were asleep for the night. Remus opened it with a quiet "Alohamora" and they entered and made their way to Harry's room. Inside Harry's room, Harry started to unpack the backpack to give it back to Remus. The disillusionment charm wore off while he was doing this. He was glad it did since it was difficult to unpack something that hardly looked like it was there.

As he removed the box he received from Ron, Remus said, "You know, I hadn't noticed any 'thing' wrong with your trunk." He looked at Harry as if expecting a comment.

Harry shifted a little nervously. "Well, you know…"

Remus laughed softly and said, "Harry, I don't know what's happening, but I've been on enough adventures myself to know when something is up. Be smart about it is all I'm asking. If it's something that we should know, let us know. Otherwise be careful. You have the mirror, right?"

Harry nodded. Remus gave him a one-armed hug and said goodbye. As Remus went to open the bedroom door, Harry called to him. "Remember to lock it from the outside when you leave."

Remus gave a wince and again said, "I will get you out of here, Harry. I promise." And with that, he left.


	3. Inside the trunk

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 3 Into the trunk

The next morning, Harry slept late and he regretted it when he woke. He had a terrible headache. Maybe trying the Firewhiskey hadn't been a good idea. Harry thought he would stick with Butterbeer from now on. Harry wanted to get to the medicine cabinet and find some aspirin, but he needed to know where the Dursleys were first. He could hear some doors slamming downstairs, then a car door. He pulled himself up and dragged himself over to the window, the bright morning sunlight painful in his eyes. He watched the garage. He heard another car door slam and saw the car backing out of the garage. All three Dursleys were in it. Harry gave a sigh of relief.

He slowly made his way to his door and started to pick the lock. He was getting quite good at it if he did say so himself. He soon heard the telling click and pushed open the door. He made his way to the loo and rummaged around until he found the aspirin. He swallowed a couple and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall. He stayed still for a few moments as a feeling of nausea passed. Harry got another glass of water and drank it down. It made him feel a bit better. Harry washed his face and combed his hair. When he finished he headed back to his room.

Harry looked at his repaired clock. It was 10:30. A sudden noise drew his attention to his new trunk. The lid was opening. Harry pulled out his wand and stared as a hand was lifting his trunk lid from the inside.

Harry stood in shock as a red head rose out of the trunk and into his room. Ron climbed out followed by Ginny.

"Where have you been, Harry? We've been waiting for you for half an hour!" Harry blinked rapidly.

"What?"

Ginny elbowed her brother. "He obviously hasn't read the note yet. What's the matter Harry? Sleep in? Got a bit of a headache? Fred and George told me what they did. Serves you right if you do." She smirked at him.

"Ah, yeah. Anyway. How did you two get here?" Harry still didn't understand how two of his friends could be in his bedroom.

"This trunk! When Ginny and I got them we discovered that they were more than just a trunk. There's a room down there and not just that. This room can be accessed by either trunk. Come and see!"

While Ron was talking to Harry, Ginny was looking around at Harry's room. Harry was glad it was picked up since he had packed everything hoping to leave the Dursleys so it was somewhat neat. Ginny walked over to the door and gave a tug, finding it locked. She got a grim look on her face which turned even darker as she saw tins of soup open on the floor where they had been shoved under the cat flap.

She stalked over to the trunk and climbed back inside. Ron motioned for Harry to follow and Ron came in behind him. As soon as Ginny hit the bottom she moved over to a ladder parallel to the one they came down and climbed up that one, opened a door at the top and climbed out. Harry watched mystified.

After the door closed Harry looked around. They were down in a pretty large room. The ceiling was about 15 feet high. It had a hard floor and not much in decorations. There were two empty picture frames on either side of the room, one between the two ladders and one on the wall opposite amid many cupboard doors. If the ladder wall was east, then the west wall with the other picture was all cupboards. There was a small room with a door indenting into the room in the northwest corner. In the northeast was what looked like a small counter with stools running parallel about 4 feet from the north wall about 8 feet in length. You could walk behind the counter but there wasn't much room there. There were more cupboards behind the counter. The south wall was completely blank. There were two comfortable looking chairs situated near the south wall. Harry wanted a closer look at the counter.

Ron saw where Harry was looking. "We had to clean all the stuff out of that. All the food was no good anymore. There is a cupboard with some sort of cooling charm on it, though, so we could keep food in there. There's a small stove you can use, too. You just need to lift this section of the counter." Ron showed Harry the single burner on one end of the counter. The counter top was hinged to swing up to show a bottom layer with the burner. "There's a tiny oven, too." Ron pointed at a small box at the other end of the counter against the wall. Harry looked it over and thought it looked like a toaster over.

At this time the ceiling door that Ginny had gone through opened up and she came back down the ladder. She had a bundle that she carried down the ladder. At the bottom she went over to the kitchen area and set the bundle on the counter. She started unloading different types of food. Meat pies, eggs, bacon, bread, cheese, various fruits and other fixings. She started putting them away in the cupboards.

Ron was looking at his sister as if she was crazy. "What are you doing, Ginny? Mum'll notice if all that food goes missing."

Ginny had a determined look on her face. "Harry needs to eat and not that stuff his relatives are pushing on him. No wonder you always look so thin when you come back to school!"

Harry felt quite uncomfortable. He didn't like to bring up his life with the Dursley's.

"Anyway, I'll just tell Mum that I packed it all up yesterday morning and snuck it to Harry then. She won't mind." She probably had a point there. Mrs. Weasley never begrudged anyone food. She took a banana and handed it to Harry. "Eat!" Harry thought he heard a soft snicker from the portrait between the stairs, then an "Oomf" as if someone was jabbed in the ribs. He looked at the portrait, but it was still empty.

Harry took the banana and started eating it, shaking his head slightly. She wasn't the shy girl she had been around him before and she seemed to have inherited some of Mrs. Weasley's traits for feeding people.

Ron cleared his throat. "She's right, you know. You could basically live here until you can leave the muggles. I hadn't thought of that. To get back on track, though, let's finish the tour." Ron pointed at the wall of cupboards. "In those are work-out equipment, shrunken furniture, books and all sorts of other things. Through the door here," pointing to the door in the northwest, "is the bathroom. You've got to see it!" He pulled Harry to the door and opened it. Inside was a large bathtub with four spouts as well as a stool and several towels with "G" or "F" on them.

"Is this like the prefects bathroom? With different foams and stuff?"

"Yeah! It's great!" Ron was grinning widely. They headed back to the main room.

Ginny looked at Harry suspiciously. "You're not a prefect. How do you know what that bathroom is like?"

Harry told her about Cedric giving him the password for the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. "I about died of shock when Myrtle came out of the faucet in there, though."

"WHAT?" Ron's face was shocked. "Moaning Myrtle? She goes in there?"

"Yeah. She said she often watched the boys in there." Harry started grinning. Prefect Ron's face was turning red going all the way back to his ears.

"Well, you could have said something about that before, mate!" Ginny was now doubled over laughing at Ron. Harry definitely heard a noise coming from the empty portrait now. He looked over at it suspiciously.

Ron carried a stool over to the two comfortable chairs and perched himself on it. Harry and Ginny took the two chairs.

Harry looked around again. "So what is this place? How is it possible that you guys can get to both the Burrow and Privet Drive from here?"

Ginny took over the telling. "We think it's a Dimensional Trunk. My uncles were twins and had these matching trunks. They must have been made so they could each access this room from wherever they were. They were twins, like Fred and George, and I could see Fred and George having something like this. They do everything together."

"Were they identical twins? Mad-Eye showed me a picture of the old Order and Gideon was on it, but not Fabian."

There was whispering over from the empty portrait between the ladders again and all three turned to look at it. Two figures appeared in it. They were young men with a stocky build similar to Fred and George. Their hair was dark, but there was a hint of red reflecting off when they moved their heads.

"All right. Who are you?" The first twin was glaring down at them.

"We've figured that you two must be Molly's youngest…" the second twin continued.

"…but who are you and how do you know about the Order?" the first twin continued glaring at Harry.

"They ARE like Fred and George." Ginny said with her mouth hanging open.

"I'm Gideon and this is Fabian Prewett." Introduced the twin on the left. Harry noticed a small scar high on his cheek.

Harry crossed the room to stand in front of the portrait. "I'm Harry Potter."

Fabian elbowed Gideon and said, "He's got to be James son. Look at that hair!"

"But that doesn't explain how any of them know about the Order…what was that you said about the _OLD_ order? Did it get disbanded?"

"Gideon's got a point. I would like to know as well." With that, the two men sat down at the bottom of the painting, cross-legged, and stared at Harry, waiting for him to explain.

"What's the last you know of the first war against Voldemort?" Harry wasn't sure where to start.

"Hey, the kid said his name!"

"_First_ war?"

The twins jaws were hanging open now and their eyes wide.

Ginny said, "Well, I guess that tells you how much they know of recent events."

Harry closed his eyes, not really wanting to have to rehash the history which greatly involved him.

Ginny saw the look on his face and took over. "In 1981, You-Know-Who went to the Potters. He killed Harry's parents then tried to kill Harry. For some reason the curse rebounded and destroyed You-Know-Who's body. Harry was left with his scar."

The twins were looking curiously at Harry. Harry lifted his fringe and showed the scar.

"That IS a curse scar…"

"I've never seen one before."

Ginny continued. "The first war was over. The Order was disbanded. Harry went to live with his awful muggle relatives…"

Fabian broke in. "I'm surprised at you. One of Arthur's children disliking muggles? From what I remember, he was almost obsessed with them."

"I don't hate muggles. Just Harry's relatives. Them being muggles has nothing to do with it. ANYWAY. Harry and Ron started Hogwarts and became friends. They have a third friend, Hermione Granger, a muggle-born who is really clever. At the end of Harry's fourth year, You-Know-Who kidnapped Harry and was able to bring his body back. Harry was able to escape and tell Dumbledore who then reassembled the Order. You-Know-Who stayed quiet most of last year and it's only been the past month or so that people have accepted that he's back. Nobody would believe Harry and Professor Dumbledore."

"You saw Lord Voldemort face to face and was able to escape him?" One twin was looking impressed, the other slightly skeptical.

Ron jumped in. "He's seen him more times than that! If you count when he was a baby he's faced him seven times!"

"Ron, how do you come up with seven?" Harry was trying to figure out how Ron came up with that number.

"First when you were a baby, second in First year when you were flying on your broom and he was trying to make you fall, third when you saw him in the Forest drinking blood, fourth at the end of first year with the Stone, fifth when you fought the memory he put in that enchanted Diary when you saved Ginny," Ginny gave a shudder. "sixth in fourth year when you dueled after he got his body back and then seventh last month in the Ministry."

"I don't think you can count the broom incident. That wasn't face to face and I'm not sure what the memory one would have done. So I'm not sure that one counts either."

"Well, I say they count." Ron said firmly.

"You were able to beat him that many times?" The two in the pictures were looking a little awed.

"No! I've never beaten him. I've always had help to get away. That's all I ever did, get away, while others paid the price!"

Ginny took his hand. "That's not true, Harry. When you were a baby…"

"My mother's love is what Dumbledore thinks cause the curse to rebound. Nothing to do with me. My parents died. The Sorcerer's Stone was the same. I was protected because of their deaths. Firenze saved me in the Forest and now he's been banned from his herd. YOU almost died in the second year. He brought you down in the Chamber of Secrets because he wanted to lure ME there. You almost died because of me. Cedric Diggory died the fourth year and Sirius died last month and you all got hurt. How is that not me getting away while others pay the price?" Harry was beginning to get angry and was yelling.

"You almost died yourself in your first year. I've heard that it was touch and go for quite a while. You SAVED me in the Chamber of Secrets. I was the one who told him about you and what you had done. My big mouth caused the trouble. Not you. Cedric died, yes, but it was all a trap. You couldn't have done anything about it. The same goes for last year. It was a trap. You went to rescue Sirius then he did the same and came to rescue you. Don't you dare diminish what he did by trying to blame yourself. Sirius' name was dragged down enough in his life. Don't you do it now in his death!" Ginny was breathing hard and her eyes were flashing.

"You sure are Molly's daughter. So I take it you guys are in the Order now." One of the twins was laughing.

"No. We're 'too young'." Ginny had a disgusted look on her face.

Both twins look on with surprise.

"Ginny, you are not to blame for what happened in your first year. He possessed you." Harry said quietly.

"If him tricking you is your fault, then him tricking me is my fault."

"So how do you kids know so much about the Order?"

"Both of our parents are in it," Ginny replied nodding at Ron.

"_Molly's_ in the Order? I never would have thought that would happen."

"And as I'm Voldie's favorite target, the Order constantly posts a guard somewhere nearby. Target! Hey, Ron. You'll never guess what I found in an old box of stuff of my dad's that Sirius had. A Spellseye." Harry started to get excited.

"I've heard of those." Ron said, eyes lighting up. "Does it still work?"

"I don't know. I put it away so I wouldn't be tempted to find out since we still can't use magic."

The twins in the portrait looked at each other; seeming to have some sort of silent conversation. Then both nodded. The twins started taking turns speaking.

"We'll let you in on a few of the secrets of this trunk of ours. You were right..."

"…it is a Dimensional Trunk. What you don't seem to know about Dimensional trunks is…"

"…you can do magic inside of this trunk. It can't be monitored from the outside."

"We used this trunk to keep up on our training…"

"…as well as a few other uses it had." The twins shared a smirk.

Ron's eyes grew wide. "We can use magic in here? Harry, go get the Spellseye."

Ginny looked at her watch. "Ron, we can't stay. Mum'll have kneazles if she can't find us. Lunch is in 15 minutes."

Ron fidgeted from foot to foot. "Magic, Ginny. We've got to at least do a little."

"I'll show you magic; my bat bogey, if you don't get a move on!"

"Aw, come on, Ginny. Just one spell?"

"All right. Move the stool back over to the counter."

Ron grinned and grabbed his wand from his back pocket. He turned to the stool and cried, "Wingardium Leviosa!" The stool rose in the air and Ron directed across the room back to the counter. He grinned and put his wand back into his back pocket. "That felt good."

Ron turned to Harry. "We've got to go, mate. Mum's got us doing chores this afternoon and Percy's coming over tonight. The whole family is getting together."

"What's happening with Percy?" Harry wondered if the Ministry admitting to the return of Voldemort made any change in Percy's attitude. Percy had warned Ron against beings friends with Harry and told his family that siding with Dumbledore was a mistake.

"Don't know yet. He hasn't been around since school got out. Well, see ya." Ron turned towards the ladders.

Ginny walked over to Harry and gave him a hug. "There's plenty of food down here. Eat something. We'll see you later." She also turned and left up the ladder.

* * *

Harry went to the cooling cupboard and took out a meat pie. He put it in the 'toaster oven' and tapped it with his wand, as he'd seen Mrs. Weasley do. The oven started to glow for a minute then the glow died down. Harry opened the oven. He realized he needed something to protect his hands. He started opening cupboards and drawers until he found some dish towels. He used a towel to remove his food, found some silverware and sat down to eat.

A thought came to Harry as he was eating. He looked to the portraits. "Gideon, Fabian, why didn't you show yourselves to Ron and Ginny?"

Gideon answered. "We were curious. We've been down here for years and we wanted to see who it was who came down. They seemed quite excited when they found this compartment and kept talking of how this would be 'perfect for Harry'. We figured they were ok as they were relatives, but we wanted to know who 'Harry' was and why this would be perfect."

"You guys have been down here for years. Were you aware of time passing while you were down here?" Harry thought they must have been extremely bored if that was the case.

"No. Portraits aren't the same as people. Portraits retain some aspects of the people's character and even some memory, but we can, to use a muggle term, go into 'sleep mode' when not needed or no one is around. We can also be invisible when people are around if we want. I think you heard my irrepressible brother laughing before."

Fabian broke in. "Hey, I resemble that remark!"

Gideon shook his head sadly. "Yes. You do."

Harry chuckled. "Well, I think I will go get my Spellseye." Harry got up and climbed up his ladder.

Harry climbed out of the trunk, closed the lid and looked around. He saw some old bread and a slice of cheese on a paper plate had been shoved under the cat flap. He walked over to it and dumped it in his waste basket. He then went to get his father's box out of his other trunk. He finally found it and pulled it out. He saw the Wizard Wireless next to it and pulled that out as well. He turned back to the Prewett's trunk. He opened it back up and saw an empty compartment with a letter at the bottom.

Harry panicked. It hadn't been a dream, had it? What happened to the room? He closed it and opened it again. Same thing. His eyes rapidly scanned all the corners and he knocked at the bottom. Nothing. Harry told himself to calm down.

Think! Ron and Ginny came in this morning acting like he should have already been down there. What was it Ginny had said? _"He obviously hasn't read the note yet." _Of course. The note. How stupid. Ron had asked him to read it right away last night. He opened the trunk again and took out the note.

_Harry, _

_Mate, you're probably thinking we're mental giving you this trunk but you wouldn't believe what we found. Ginny figured it out. If you trace the rune shaped like an "X" with your wand and then open the trunk you'll find a room! Better, we can get in that room, too. Meet us there at 10:00 Sunday morning._

_See you soon--, _

_Ron_

Harry took his wand and traced the rune he had thought was just part of the design on the front of the trunk. He opened the trunk again and found the ladder heading down to the room. He put the Wireless on top of the box and carefully started down the ladder with his burden. The lid closed above him.

Back in the trunk Harry set the box on the counter. He saw the portraits were both blank again. He turned the wireless on to the muggle oldies station. He decided to look around. He went to the cupboards across the room and opened a pair. There were miniature silk cushions, bedrolls and tables shrunk to about one quarter size. He opened a cupboard above it and found a Foe-Glass, Secrecy Sensors, sneakoscopes and other items he didn't recognize but thought they must have something to do with detecting Dark Arts or enemies. Another cupboard had games; Gobstones, a Wizard Chess set, several decks of self-shuffling cards, an exploding snap deck and dice. Harry moved to another set on the lowest level. Here was equipment of some sorts. Some reminded him of free-weights or other types of weight lifting equipment. The free-weights didn't seem too heavy. Only 10 pounds or so. He picked up a small belt and put it around his waist wondering what it did. The belt fastened itself and suddenly Harry found it harder to move. He had to make more of an effort to lift his hand or feet. "What the…!"

He heard a laugh from the picture on the wall he was near. Fabian was looking down at him, laughing. "Haven't you ever seen fitness equipment?"

"I've been raised as a muggle. I still don't know much about the wizarding world or it's traditions. I like the idea of getting fit, though." Fabian's eyes lit up.

"Oh, no. You had to say that." Gideon was back in his picture by the ladders. He was shaking his head. "You don't know what you've done! Fabian, here, is a fitness fanatic!"

Harry turned back to Fabian. "Would you be able to explain to me what some of this stuff is?"

"I'd be glad to! What you are wearing now is an Ingravo Belt. It increases the gravity. What that means is that every part of your body must work that much harder to do anything; breathe, walk, carry anything. It will increase your muscle mass and endurance. Do you see the slide on the side? For every notch you move it over, the gravity increases by one force. If you've never done this before, I would recommend you not wear it for more than 20 minutes. You should do some stretches before you get started. To release the belt, put your hand on it anywhere and say 'solvo'. Using the free-weights with it magnifies the effect. You should be able to increase the time and force gradually."

Harry removed the belt and started doing some of the stretches he did before Quidditch. Fabian showed him a few others he should do for muscles Harry didn't usually use. After 10 minutes of stretching, Harry put the belt back on and grabbed the free weights. He slowly increased the gravity just to see what the weights would feel like, then moved it back to the first step. Fabian advised him to start slowly. After the free-weights, Harry removed another machine. It was a shrunken bicycle. He saw a treadmill towards the back as well.

Harry took his wand, pointed it the bicycle and made the correct movement. "_Engorgio_." Harry even seemed to need to concentrate that much harder to perform the spell. Slowly the bicycle grew.

"Harry! Are you listening to me? Obviously not." Fabian was sounding a bit peeved. Harry turned towards him. "As I was saying, it is recommended that you enlarge the items before you use the belt. It is much easier that way as you no doubt just found out!"

Harry didn't know. It _was_ definitely harder to do the spell, but he wondered if practicing wand movements would be just as beneficial as the other exercises. The increase in concentration shouldn't hurt either.

Harry spent just a few minutes on the bike and had to stop. He was dripping with sweat. He removed the belt and started his cool down routine. Fabian watched and made comments on what else he thought Harry should do to cool down. Harry was beginning to see why Gideon thought Fabian was a fanatic. Fabian continued to talk as Harry collapsed on a chair. "Now that you've had a bit of fun today trying most of this out, I'll make up a routine for you to follow so you can get the most out of your workout." Harry just nodded and closed his eyes. "I would recommend you taking a whirlpool bath right now to relax your muscles."

Harry's eyes opened. He had forgotten about the bathroom. He rose out of his chair and made his way over to it. He got the tub ready and got in, adding some dark green foam from one of the spouts. It had a nice scent. It reminded Harry of the outdoors after a spring rain. The warm water felt heavenly on Harry's sore muscles. He pulled the lever that would start rotating the water. The water started moving at intervals like waves in the ocean. He pulled the lever farther down and it changed to a Jacuzzi-style movement. He let the water pound his body until he felt his muscles loosen. He then switched to the ocean style. Both were relaxing in their own way. Harry's mind started to drift. Maybe this would work for his occlumency.

When Harry finally left the tub he felt much better. He hadn't brought other clothes down and really didn't want to put his sweaty clothes back on. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He headed for his ladder when he heard a small choking sound. He turned and saw Ginny standing by the counter with a quill in her hands. She had been writing on a parchment.

"H…Harry." Her eyes were large as she stared at him.

Harry's face flamed. "Sorry, Ginny. I didn't know you were there. I had done some exercising, took a bath and decided I needed other clothes. Um…What's up?" Harry really wanted to get to his clothes, but there was no _way_ he was going to climb a ladder in only a towel with Ginny down below.

Ginny's face flamed as she realized she was staring. "Oh! Well…I was just going to leave you a note that Luna was coming to the Burrow tomorrow. I wondered if you thought it would be ok for her to come down here, too."

"Er…yeah. No problem. It's your trunk. Invite who you want." Harry felt a bit uncomfortable. It really was Ginny's trunk and here he was in it in just a towel.

"It's yours, too. We want you to be comfortable in it. I'll just get going now. I need to get back to the garden. Luna said she'd be here in the morning. She's spending the day. Bye, Harry." Ginny turned and almost ran to the ladder.

Harry watched her go. After the trunk lid closed he moved to his own ladder. He quickly climbed it and got a few different changes of clothes. He wasn't planning to live down there as such but he didn't want to be caught without again. He brought down the clothes he had already worn that he had packed in his trunk. He could cast a cleaning charm on them until they could be washed properly.

* * *

Harry went back down in the trunk. He decided it was time to try out his dad's Spellseye. He went over to the box and pulled it out. Harry looked at it closer. There was more explanation in smaller letters on the back.

_The first time the Spellseye is used it will work from the beginner level. To save your game, hold your wand against one of the numbers (1 – 10) on the back and state your name. The next time you wish to continue your game tap your name twice with your wand._

_To pass each level you need 10 consecutive hits. If you should have 5 consecutive misses you will be dropped down a level. Each level will increase the movement of the Spellseye._

Harry looked at the bottom. There were some saved games.

_Prongs – Level 11; Padfoot – Level 11; Moony – Level 9; Wormtail – Level 5; No. 5; No 6; No. 7; No. 8; No. 9; No. 10._

Harry really hoped this still worked. He would love to have some idea of how good his dad and his friends were at this. He had always heard that his dad and Sirius were very good at magic and it came quite easily to them. Harry held his wand against No. 5 and said, "Harry". He watched No. 5 change to read '_Harry – Level 1_'.

It said it needed to be placed against a wall. The logical wall was the big blank wall. Harry walked over to it and placed the Spellseye against it. He felt a vibration travel through it and he slowly let go. It stayed there. Harry took a few steps back. The Spellseye started to move at a meandering crawl. Harry aimed his wand and quickly cast 10 "_Subsistos_" at it.

It dinged twice and two puffs of smoke erupted from it. Harry felt a lurch in his stomach thinking that he broke it. Then the smoke formed the number two and "_Average 6.8_" and it moved at the pace of a fast walk. He still easily made 10 consecutive hits. It dinged three times and more puffs of smoke formed the number three and "_Average 6.7_". This was kind of fun. The average number must be the power put into the spell.

Harry proceeded through the levels. It started making abrupt changes of directions with level 5, the level Wormtail stalled at. Harry was extremely happy that he was able to get 10 consecutive hits after only a few misses and proceed to level 6. Harry seemed to plateau at level 8. His power average had dropped to 6.2. He was pleased with that. This was going to come in handy for practice. He figured his father probably received this for his 17th birthday, sometime during his 6th year or right after and, like Fred and George, had been able to do magic during the summer. All of the stuff from the box seemed to come from his school days.

A voice spoke from behind him. "Very good start. This was your first time using that?" Gideon was in his frame.

"Yeah. Quite a lot of fun." Harry turned to face Gideon.

"You're interested in spells and defensive magic?"

"DADA is my favorite subject, if not my favorite class." Gideon's eyes lit up, very similar to how Fabian's eyes had lit up before.

"Why not your favorite class?"

"For the five years I've been at Hogwarts, we've had five teachers; two were Death Eaters, one was just totally incompetent and one was a Ministry mole who never let us practice magic – theory only and bad theory at that." Harry grimaced thinking of Umbridge.

"Who was the fifth teacher?"

"Remus Lupin taught in my third year. He was great, but they wouldn't let him come back."

"Why not? I remember Remus. He seemed the type to make a good teacher."

"Because he's a werewolf." Harry saw Gideon's eyes pop wide open.

"He's a WHAT?"

Harry sighed. "Remus Lupin is a very good man who happens to get hairy once a month. He's a very good friend of mine as he was of my father's. He's the one who taught me the Patronus Charm when they stationed Dementors around Hogwarts in third year."

"You can do the Patronus Charm? Is it corporeal?"

Harry just grinned and pointed his wand. He thought of his friends and the chance to do magic over the summer. "Expecto Patronum!" His silver stag leapt out of his wand and cantered around the room. It trotted back to Harry. "Hey, Prongs." Harry said softly before it vanished.

Gideon looked impressed. He also looked curious. "You named your Patronus?"

"I didn't name it. That's who it is. My father and his friends became animagi to help Remus on the full moons. My father was 'Prongs', Sirius was 'Padfoot' – he looked like a grim, and the traitor was 'Wormtail'."

"The traitor?"

"If you don't mind, could you get the story from Ron?" Harry didn't want to spend the whole time re-living his history. He looked around for another subject.

"Gideon, why did you two leave that wall blank? You said you trained down here. What all did you do?" Harry was curious.

"Fabian kept us up on the physical training. I preferred the magical training. I would search out new spells and shields for us to practice. We could have used that Spellseye you have there. I have a few of my books over in the left cupboards across the room. As for the wall, it is spelled to absorb stray curses instead of reflecting them. We also didn't leave it blank all the time, only in training. We would create a fireplace by using 'illusio caminus' or an outdoor scene by 'illusio rus'."

Harry walked over by the two chairs and pointed his wand at the wall. "Illusio caminus." A picture of a hearth with a roaring fire in it appeared on the wall. "That is much better. Thanks." Harry continued over to the cupboards on the left. He opened them to see several books lined up. He glanced through the titles. He recognized several from the Room of Requirement. _Jinxes for the Jinxed…The Dark Arts Outsmarted…Self-Defensive Spellwork_ and several other titles. He also noticed some new ones; _Fighting Together: Strategies for fighting in pairs or small groups; Something from Nothing: An Advanced Conjuror's Guide_ and _Short Spells for Tight Spots. _

Harry took the _Short Spells _book and decided to make himself some dinner. He supposed he should then return to the Dursley's in case they should decide to investigate the total lack of noise from his room. He made some food and ate it at the counter. He switched the station on the Wireless and heard of another attack on a muggle town. He cleared his mess, used the bathroom, canceled the fireplace illusion, found his dad's journal and took that and the _Short Spells_ book back up the ladder to his room.

* * *

Harry had been reading in his room for about ten minutes when some food was shoved through the cat flap and the door was unlocked. He heard the Dursley's heading downstairs for their dinner. He took the tin of soggy vegetable soup and his other dried-out food and flushed them down the toilet in the bathroom across the hall. He dumped the tins and paper plates in the bathroom trash and returned to his room. Harry opened the Prewett trunk normally and heaved his trunk inside of it and shoved it back where his trunk had been. Now if the Dursleys would look in his room, they would only see one trunk and not question why he suddenly had two.

Eventually Harry heard one of the Dursley's on the stairs again and his lock clicked. Harry turned his attention back to his father's journal. He wanted to know if the instructions for becoming a animagus could be found in this journal. It was amusing to hear of the pranks pulled by his father and his friends as well.

Harry smiled. Finally Harry decided to call it a night and put the journal aside. He tried clear his mind by focusing on how he had felt in the tub, to let his thoughts go, and Harry fell asleep.

* * *

Harry woke the next morning in a happier mood than he had been in a long time. He heard the lock click and two pieces of toast were shoved through the flap. Footsteps moved off down the hall. Harry got dressed and went across to the bathroom. When he returned to his room he figured he would stay there until they locked his door again. Then he should be safe to go back down in the trunk. The clock showed that it was just a bit after 7:30 AM. Harry started looking at his dad's journal again.

Harry was glad he stayed in his room when he heard footsteps approaching his door and then the door handle started to turn. Uncle Vernon came into Harry's room. He kept looking behind as if he didn't want to be found talking to his nephew.

"Boy, your aunt is being adamant that you stay in this room. But, you notice you have a full dinner hour to use the loo in the evenings. You also have all those new clothes. You'll tell those frea…fri-ends of yours that, won't you?" Uncle Vernon was obviously grasping at straws if he thought that under normal situations getting a few outfits for the first time in his life and being kept in a room for 23 hours per day would ever be considered good treatment.

"Don't worry, Uncle Vernon. I'm not planning to tell them about this. If I had been, you would've already've known." Harry only wanted to put Uncle Vernon at ease enough so he wouldn't come back into his room.

"What will they do when they don't get a note from you with that bloody owl?" Even nervous, Uncle Vernon couldn't be polite.

"We don't need Hedwig to communicate. I've been in contact with them all along."

Uncle Vernon looked a bit nervous. "How?"

"Are you sure you want me to answer that? I know how you feel about my…talents." Harry smiled inwardly when he saw Uncle Vernon's face start to look panicky.

"No. No, that's all right. I'll just be on my way then…" and he backed out of the room. Harry heard the door close and the lock click into place.

Harry heard his footsteps leave rather quickly and the smile broke through to his face. His relatives were somewhat predictable. Uncle Vernon was anxious enough that he would probably even go against Aunt Petunia to get Harry more freedom if it meant that the Order wouldn't be coming for a visit. But since Harry now had access to the trunk, he didn't care about getting more freedom from Uncle Vernon. Privet Drive had nothing Harry wanted.

* * *

Harry made his was back down into the trunk. Fabian walked into his picture frame across from the ladders. "Are you ready for your first real workout?"

"I thought I'd eat breakfast first." Harry's stomach was growling.

"Go get a drink of water, but exercise before eating." Fabian had a fire lit in his eyes.

Harry sighed, got himself a glass of water and headed to the bathroom to change into a pair of shorts to exercise in. When he returned, Fabian was pacing back and forth in his frame.

"Now my understanding of your situation is that you are dragged into messes quite often and have to defend yourself. Correct? And during this summer you are basically trapped with nothing to do. Correct? Therefore…"

A voice broke through from the other side of the room. "…you might as well prepare yourself for next time, because there is always a next time. And we can help you there. Fabian can help you with physical readiness and…"

"…Gideon will help you with the spells. A perfect solution!"

Harry thought about it. A whole summer of exercise didn't sound great, but learning new spells was always fun. Besides, it really wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

"OK. But if something comes up with my friends, I can take some time off."

"Agreed!" Both twins answered at the same time.

Fabian took over. "All right. Open the bottom cupboard and take out the treadmill. Enlarge it, then start your warm up."

Harry didn't want to stare at a blank wall so he first cast "Illusio Rus" to get a countryside scene. He concentrated hard on making it a good scene. It did turn out pretty good. There was a path that led through some hills and trees and birds were in the air softly singing. He then turned the Wizarding Wireless on softly to the muggle oldies station.

Harry bent down to crawl partially in the cupboard to remove the treadmill. As he was pulling it backwards he heard a noise behind him.

"Oi…Harry! Whatcha doin' mate?" Ron was coming down the ladder. Worse, Ginny and Luna were peering down into the room as well with grins on their faces. Well, Ginny's was a grin, Luna just looked faintly amused. Harry thought the timing couldn't have been worse. Here he was sitting with his bum in the air. His face flushed red which caused the grins on the other faces to widen.

"Fabian and Gideon are going to help me train a bit this summer. I'm going to exercise a bit on the treadmill."

Ginny was at the bottom of the ladder now and she turned to the normally blank wall. "Ooh, Harry! What did you do? This looks great!"

"The twins said they only had the wall blank when they were training. Otherwise they would have some sort of scene on it." Harry looked over to Luna. "Hello, Luna. Good to see you again. Are you having a good summer so far?"

Luna looked at him with her unblinking eyes and said, "It has been a fine summer so far. Daddy's starting to plan what we will need for our trip to Sweden in August. I must say, when Ginny invited me over I never thought that I'd find you live in her trunk. But it is nice to see you."

Harry flushed red again. She made it sound like he was Ginny's pet.

Ginny broke in. "Luna, he doesn't live in my trunk. Ron and I got these trunks and found that they were Dimensional Trunks and had a shared room. Ron gave his trunk to Harry so we could all see each other over the summer."

"So now it's like a his and hers matching trunk set! How cute!"

Ginny opened her mouth again, paused, and finally just shook her head.

Harry had to give a small laugh. He had to admit that it might look a little strange going on the Hogwarts Express with matching trunks, but luckily, since they could shrink them, no one should notice.

Fabian cleared his throat. Harry looked over and nodded. "Ron, you want to exercise, too? It's geared mostly for speed and endurance."

Ron looked reluctant. "I'll try it out a bit later, but what I'd like to do it give a go at the Spellseye. You mind?"

"Go ahead. I'll show you how to set it up." Harry went over to help Ron with the Spellseye.

"Harry, would you mind if I exercised, too? I want to be in decent shape when I try out for Chaser this year." Ginny was looking in the cupboard at the different pieces of equipment. Luna wandered over to the books. Besides training there were also a few fiction books, plant books and a few myth vs. reality books. She took one off the shelf and settled in a comfortable chair and started to read.

Ginny had taken out the bicycle and enlarged it. Harry had seen that there was a second Ingravo Belt and offered it to Ginny. She tried it on but decided she didn't like it, at least this first time. Harry and Ginny started a few stretches.

Everyone was busy doing their thing. Harry had changed the view so it only took half the wall and Ron could use the other half with his target practice. After a bit, Ginny sighed and asked Harry, "What was that spell you used to create the countryside illusion?"

"Illusio Rus." Harry answered.

"Please don't be offended, but do you mind if I jazz it up a bit?"

"No. Go ahead." Harry was curious on what she planned to do.

"Illusio Rus Tractus!" Ginny aimed her wand at the illusion and it started moving as if they were walking or riding down the path in the scene.

"Cool!"

It was much more interesting with the scenery moving. Every so often a small squirrel would skitter across the path in front of them.

After a while, Harry looked over to Ginny and asked, "So how did dinner go last night?"

Ginny gave a hiss and her foot slipped off the pedal. Her eyes flashed. "Percy is still being a stupid git. He's willing to concede that You-Know-Who _may_ be back, but he's still criticizing Mum and Dad for standing by Dumbledore and..." She stopped abruptly and gave him a sideways glance, not saying another word.

Harry gave a grimace. "Let me guess. He still thinks Ron should have nothing to do with me, too."

Ginny's eyes seemed to burn. "He is just so stupid. He may have gotten 12 OWLs but he's still stupid. He doesn't think you're crazy anymore, but he thinks we should all stay away from you, 'just in case.' Mum got right in his face and said that we would stand by you and Dumbledore 'til the end. She was great. She said you were as much a part of our family as any of us and that Percy would have to learn to accept that. He just started puffing up and started ranting about how dangerous things always happens around you and brought up how Ron and I were hurt last month and Ron's been hurt in previous years."

Harry felt like he'd received a slap in the face. "He's got a point, you know." Ginny's eyes flashed again and she seemed about to speak, but Harry stopped her. "Maybe he's just worried about all of you and doesn't know how to show it. Maybe he thinks that if you stay away from Voldemort's main targets you'll be safe from him."

"But that's stupid. This is everyone's war, not just yours and Dumbledore's! Everyone will suffer if no one does anything."

"I know. I'm just saying that that view doesn't seem to be that uncommon among wizards. Most of them seem to hope that if they close their eyes, it will all go away. He probably just doesn't know how to show that he's concerned for you." Harry thought the words sounded right, but the hurt feeling of betrayal that had started last year was still there as was the frustration. Ginny seemed to sense how Harry felt and backed off a bit.

"Well, anyway, he was definitely the minority voice last night. He left, all mad, and Mum burst into tears again. Needless to say, no one finished the dinner with much of an appetite."

They finished their exercises and started their cool down. Harry looked over and saw Ron was talking with both Gideon and Fabian who were both in Gideon's portrait. Every so often they would glance over at Harry. He guessed that Ron was filling them in on Harry's history. He was just glad he didn't have to do it. Some of it was enough living through once. He didn't want to do it again. Luna was still in her chair reading through one of the books.

Harry finished up and told Ginny he was going to have a quick wash up and then fix himself some breakfast. Ginny's eyes widened and Harry hastily assured her he had clothes down here this time. Ginny laughed. Harry was glad that she didn't seem uncomfortable with what happened anymore.

As he stepped into the bathroom he decided he didn't want to take the time for a full bath and took a closer look at the tub. He saw there was a shower nozzle up high. He turned on the water and adjusted the temperature then turned the knob on the shower head. Glass walls started coming up around the tub. As soon as the wall was almost to the ceiling, the water came out of the shower head. Harry stepped back and saw that one panel had a handle and he stepped into the shower.

Harry completed his shower and quickly got dressed. When he stepped back into the main room he was surprised to see Ginny frying some eggs and bacon in the kitchen area. She looked up and smiled at him. "I thought I would get you started. We already ate but I'm sure Ron will have some more, too."

Harry smiled at her. "Thanks. I didn't expect you to do this."

"I know. If you _were_ expecting this of me, I wouldn't have done it!"

Harry laughed. He thought that was probably a true statement. Ginny wouldn't let herself be taken for granted or used anymore.

Harry took over making the breakfast. Once it was done he asked if anyone wanted some. Luna and Ginny declined, but Ron hurried over. Harry and Ron ate the eggs, bacon and toast. While they were eating, Harry asked about Hedwig.

"She's ok, mate. She had some ruffled feathers and a slight wound on her side, but she's almost recovered by now." Ron said this through a mouth full of food.

"Would you be able to bring her down so I can see her?" Harry missed his snowy friend.

"Sure! I bet she'd love that. In fact, I'll go get her now." Ron finished swallowing his mouthful and bolted for the stairs.

He returned shortly with an owl perched on his shoulder starting down the stairs. Apparently, Hedwig was a bit hesitant about flying into a school trunk. As soon as Hedwig was far enough into the trunk to see around, she flew over to Harry. She perched on his shoulder and started preening his hair. Harry, too, was trying to look over Hedwig to make sure she was all right.

"Hello, girl. I've missed you. I'm sorry I sent you out with that note. I didn't mean for you to get hurt." Harry told his owl.

Hedwig clicked her beak at him several times as if chiding him for thinking he was to blame at all. She then stopped and nipped lightly at his ear, letting him know she was happy to see him.

Luna wandered over in her dazed way and gazed at Hedwig. "She's adopted you. I've never seen the _avis ad-optare_ behavior before though I have heard about it. Soon you may be able to understand what she says in actual owl words and you may start sprouting downy white feathers." She peered at him closely as though looking for signs of feathers.

Harry looked at Luna. "Right. Can't wait." Ron and Ginny had come close enough to hear the last bit and both were trying to hide their snickers. Trying to change the subject he noticed the book in her hand. "What have you been reading, Luna?"

"It's a book on Wandless Magic. May I borrow it for a while? It discusses how any spell done with a wand can be done without a wand. It argues that since a wand is mainly used as a focus, if the wizard can hone his own focus, the wand wouldn't be needed."

"No way!" Ron wouldn't believe that someone could do as much without a wand as well as with a wand any more than he would believe Harry was going to start sprouting feather down and speaking owl language.

"No, she may have a point. And of course, you can borrow it, Luna." Harry was thinking about it. "I had a talk with Remus about this subject when I accidentally blew Snape across my back yard without a wand and he said that some wizards may have a talent for that sort of thing. I've seen Dumbledore and Snape do Wandless Magic before. Snape cleans out cauldrons by just waving his hand."

"What do you mean 'you blew Snape across your back yard'? When did this happen?" Ron's eyes were large. Ginny's eyes were focused hard on Harry as well. Luna was still flipping through her book.

"Remus came to see me shortly after I returned to Privet Drive and Snape came to get him because he had to leave on a mission early. Snape made some way over the top comments about the Marauders or lack thereof and I lost it. I never touched my wand, but he was thrown across the yard about 25 feet and stunned. I about freaked out then, but I didn't get any Ministry owl and Remus must have talked Snape out of killing me somehow. I think he said he was going to tell him that he stunned him, himself. That's why my aunt lost it. She witnessed the whole thing. Since then I've been stuck back in the bedroom."

Luna evidently was paying attention because she said, "Of course there would be no Ministry owl. How could they send you a letter about your wand use when you had used no wand?"

"I thought they measured the magic somehow." Harry really didn't know how it worked.

"Oh, no. Daddy says the Ministry requires that each wand sold needs to be registered. They can then track the use of each group of wands. Of course, they turn the monitors off when school starts and turn them back on at the beginning of summer. The monitors are guarded by a Cerberus."

The others looked at her blankly. "You know, Cerberus, a three-headed dog?"

"Oh. Like Fluffy!" Ron grinned.

Luna looked at him, confused. "Fluffy?" Then she smiled. "Oh, Ronald! You are so funny. A three-headed dog named Fluffy!" Luna burst into laughter.

"No. Fluffy was the name of Hagrid's pet. A three-headed dog. We met him in our first year. Didn't we Harry? I wonder whatever happened to him."

"He's probably living in the Forbidden Forest with Grawp and Aragog." Harry replied and Ron shuddered.

Harry turned to Luna. "May I read that book when you are finished?"

Luna smiled at him. "Of course, Harry." She drifted back off to her chair.

The friends spent their morning catching up and relaxing.

At lunch time, the Weasley's and Luna left the trunk and Harry made some lunch for himself. Before they left, Ginny had made her way over to Harry. She had apologized if Luna had made him uncomfortable with her remarks. Harry had told her that she never needed to apologize for anything Luna would say. Luna was a nice girl who, while he didn't agree with all of her views, did sometimes have a new way of looking at something that he appreciated. Luna seemingly heard them for she walked over to them and said, "I like you, too, Harry." Then she kissed Harry's cheek.

Harry wasn't sure how to react so he just smiled and gave her a one-armed hug. He had never received physical affection growing up and was still unsure how to handle it. Apparently, it was enough and Luna smiled at him then turned very serious. She looked him straight in the eye and said, "I will always be your friend, Harry, and stand by your side."

Harry knew Mrs. Weasley would shoo them all outside for the afternoon since she thought they had spent all morning in Ginny's room. She always wanted them to keep active and get some sunshine while they could. He wished he could join them, but as he couldn't he thought he may as well get some target practice in. While he set up the Spellseye, he noticed Ron had reached Level 6. He set up the Spellseye and worked on his Level 8.

After he'd been at it for a while, Gideon called him over. "What do you know about silent incantations?"

Harry furrowed his brow. "I've never thought about it before. I suppose I've seen it done, but I haven't learned it yet."

"Sometimes I forget that you still have two years of schooling to go. Silent incants are useful in a fighting situation because your opponent doesn't know what spell you will be sending. The trade-off is the spells generally lose some of their power. The words focus your mind and clarify your intent for the spell."

Harry thought back to the Ministry battle. There had been a lot of fighting where there were only flashes of the wands and no incantations used. Also the spell that hit Hermione had reduced effects according to Madam Pomfrey because the incantation hadn't been said aloud.

Gideon continued. "I've always been interested in the Wordless and Wandless magics and if you don't mind, I would like to go over what you were talking about with your friends a bit earlier about the Wandless ability. But for now, let's start with the silent incants. Let's start with something basic. Pull out your wand."

Harry pulled his wand out of his back pocket and held it ready in front of him.

"Try the Lumos Spell."

Harry said, "Lumos." and the wand tip lit up.

Gideon chuckled and said, "I did believe you could do the Lumos Spell. Now try it without saying the words."

Harry thought 'Lumos' in his mind, but nothing happened. He looked back to Gideon.

Gideon didn't seem surprised. "It takes some getting used to. Let's try it another way. Say 'Lumos' but say it quieter, but make sure the tip is as bright as full volume. Then progressively get softer in volume until you can do it silently with a fully lit tip."

This was a lot harder than he thought it would be, but Harry kept at it. After an hour had passed, he finally got a weak light at the tip without an incantation being used. Gideon told him to take a break for a while, but to keep practicing until he could do it all the way. Then they would start on other spells.

Harry asked Gideon if all spells could work silently. Gideon told him that in theory they could, but in practice, some spells just needed too much focus in order to work, such as the Unforgivables. They needed so much focused power, he'd never heard of a successful one being done without incantation.

* * *

Harry decided to use his break to look through some more of his father's journal. After reading for about 15 minutes he came to an interesting entry.

_06-May-75_

_We finally were able to figure something out on the animagus transformation. By piecing together bits from Sirius' book and my book we've come up with the following:_

_Wizards have an animal inside of them they can access with the right know-how._

_If a wizard has enough power he can somewhat influence what animal it will be. You can't pick an animal but can influence what traits it will have. Personality traits will have a stronger influence._

_In order for the transformation to occur, the wizard has to be proficient in both Wandless and Wordless magic (at least for this one spell!)_

_A wizard must first 'meet' their animal in a trance before they can successfully transform (Most accidents in transformations are because wizards skip this step and transform to what they think they will be but actually aren't. Messy pictures. Believe me, you don't want to see.)_

_I know it doesn't sound like much, but we know the incantation, we just have to get ourselves to the level where we can use it. We've decided to tell Remus we want to study Wordless and Wandless magic to aide us in our pranks; and it's true to a certain extent. We might as well have fun while learning! Think of how much easier it would be to hex Snivellus if there were no words to be heard. We wouldn't get so many detentions for being caught! Ah…the possibilities…_

_But, back to the animagus thing. Peter, Sirius and I have talked about what kind of animal traits we would like to have. We all would need to be big. Remus gets quite large as a werewolf so we would need to be able to control him. I would like to be something impressive or majestic. Maybe a lion. King of the forest. Yeah. That's me. Maybe that would be a little showy. I'd probably never hear the end of it from Lily Evans if she ever found out. She always says that I'm too conceited now._

_Sirius says he wants to be something shocking. That would fit him right. He always pushes things to the edge. I think he should be a hyena._

_Then there's Peter. He says he wants to be something large, too, but the best I can picture for him is a cow or something. Just kidding. He says he wants to be the most powerful. He said a dragon, so he would have the strength and power to crush other animals. Something about the way he says that puts me off a bit. He just gets this look in his eye…_

The entry stopped there. But that was enough for Harry. He placed a marker at this entry so he could keep referring back to it. Just like his father before him, Harry now wanted to become proficient at both Wordless and Wandless magic, even more so than before.

What would he want his animal to have as traits? He would have to think about it. Harry got out a piece of parchment and decided to make a list of the traits he wanted. He would keep it nearby to be able to add to it as he thought of them.

Harry decided his break was over and went back to work on the Wordless magic with a renewed determination.

* * *

Harry's days settled into somewhat of a routine. He would get up at 7:30 when the Dursley's unlocked his door; use the bathroom and flush the sorry looking bread they gave him for breakfast; go into the trunk and do the exercises Fabian directed with Ginny while Ron would use the Spellseye (he was up to level 7 now); spend the morning talking with them or playing games; then after they left at lunch he would work with Gideon on Wordless spells for most of the afternoon; and eat supper then return to the Dursley's to read his father's journal or books on spells at night. He still tried to practice clearing his mind by imagining how he felt relaxing in the tub. He even refreshed his memory a time or two by using the tub at night, but he was uncertain of the results. He occasionally still had prickles in his scar when he awoke in the morning but he hadn't had any visions.

On Wednesday afternoon, Remus had called him on the mirror. The full moon had just passed and he looked terrible. Harry could tell that even speaking was draining him.

"Harry, how are you doing? Do you need me to contact anybody?"

"I'm fine, but how are _you_? Do you need someone there to help _you_?" Harry didn't know if Remus always looked this bad after a transformation or if being alone exaggerated the problem.

"I'll be fine. I always am. I'm more worried about you. Are you ok?" Remus stared hard at Harry.

"I'm fine. I won't say no when the time comes to leave, but until then I'm fine. Remus, why don't you ask Professor Dumbledore if you can borrow Dobby to take care of you for a while. I'm sure it's not that busy during the summer for the house elves and he could at least cook for you."

"I don't need someone to take care of me. I will do fine by…" Remus broke off and stared off in the distance.

"Remus? What's wrong?" Harry wondered what was wrong with his friend and started thinking of how maybe he could get Ron or Ginny to get help for him.

Remus shook himself slightly and came back to focus on Harry again. "Sorry. I'm fine, but I just had a thought. It might take a bit of arranging, but…" Again, Remus trailed off. "If you're all right, I'll let you go now. I'll talk to you again. See you, cub. Out."

Harry signed off as well. A little worried for his friend, Harry turned back to his practice.

* * *

The week passed swiftly and finally Saturday morning arrived. Harry was having breakfast down in the trunk with Ron and Ginny snitching pieces of bacon when he got a call from Remus.

"Harry Potter." Remus sounded happy. Ron and Ginny looked over at Harry curiously. He had told them about the mirror but this was the first they saw how it worked.

"Hey, Remus. What's up?"

"Good news, Harry. You're getting out of there today. I'll be coming to get you at noon. All right?"

Harry broke out in a wide grin. "That's great! Will I be staying with you?"

"Yes and no." Remus replied.

"Do you think you can get any more confusing than that?" Harry wasn't sure what exactly would be going on.

Remus' grin got wider. "Something you said on Wednesday stuck in my head and we came up with this solution. I'll explain later. Just be ready to go, all right?"

"You've got it!" They signed off and Harry grinned at his friends. "I'm not sure if anything will change down here. I'll have to figure what the schedule is at Headquarters. I want to be able to meet with you down here, but I don't want the Order to throw a fit if they can't find me. And I'd rather they didn't know too much about these trunks if I can help it. I guess I'd better head up and start packing." Harry stood up and started for the ladder.

"See ya, mate." Ron called after him. Ginny waved, too.

* * *

Harry was waiting in his room at noon, reading the short-spell book. These spells weren't all that powerful but could be fired in rapid succession. The spells had only one or two syllables and complementary wand movements. They wouldn't totally incapacitate the opponents but hopefully buy some time. The effects of these spells generally lasted less than a minute. Finally he heard the doorbell.

The Dursley's had gone out on Uncle Vernon's company golf outing. Uncle Vernon had given Dudley a full set of golf clubs for his birthday. Harry wondered idly how Uncle Vernon would react when he saw that some of them were already bent. Harry had heard Dudley muttering across the hall trying to get them to fit back into the bag. It seemed that Dudley had decided they made a good tool for denting neighbors garbage tins and the play sets at the park.

Harry had already unlocked his bedroom door and went downstairs to let Remus in.

"Hey, Remus. What do I use to send my letters?"

"A mirror. Hello, Harry. Are you ready to go?" Remus smiled at Harry.

"Yeah. Just let me put this note on the table for the Dursley's. I already have my trunk." Harry patted his pocket.

"What about Hedwig's cage?"

Harry had put the cage in the trunk room because Hedwig visited every morning. This way she had a resting perch and refreshments while she patiently watched them or gently napped. "This trunk is bigger than my old one, so I was able to fit it inside of it." That was the truth after all.

Remus looked at him with fond suspicion. "I'm still interested in the story behind that trunk. But you look well. Better than I'd hoped. In fact, you look suspiciously well. But if what you've got cooked up between you and the Weasley kids is helping you, then I'm for it. Just remember if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"I know that, Remus, and I appreciate it. I am feeling good. Even better to be leaving here." Harry paused and looked around. "I don't see an escort…How are we getting where we are going? A…a portkey?" Harry hoped not, but he didn't see any other mode of transportation close at hand that they would let him use without a full guard.

Remus got a big grin on his face. "No. No portkeys today. In fact, transportation is being provided by the same means as how you will be able to stay where you will without me present all the time. I do have to go on a mission again, now that I'm recovered."

Harry's confusion showed plainly on his face. "What transportation?"

Remus lifted his head and called, "Dobby!"

A loud crack and Harry's middle was hit hard by a small house-elf. "Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is so glad to be here again." Dobby's voice was a muffled squeal as his face was mushed into Harry's shirt.

Remus looked at Harry and mouthed 'again?' Harry just waved him off and tried to pry Dobby's arms from around his waist. The house elf was stronger than he looked.

"Dobby, it's great to see you. Why're you here?" Harry was looking between Remus and Dobby, waiting for an explanation.

Remus started to explain. "When we spoke last Wednesday, you mentioned that I should ask to borrow a house elf to take care of me. That got me thinking that maybe if we _could_ borrow a house elf, you would have someone who could get help if something went wrong. When the house elves were asked if anyone was willing to volunteer…"

"Oh, Harry Potter! Dobby was the very first to volunteer. The other house elves is very jealous that I get this honor of extra work, but they also knows that Dobby is a friend to Harry Potter!" Dobby stepped back. His tennis-ball-sized eyes brimming with tears of happiness. He had a look of adoration on his face.

Harry looked at Remus. "So…how will this work?"

Remus replied, "Dobby can transport you directly where we are going and I'll follow."

"Is you ready, sir? Dobby can take you if you is ready!"

Harry smiled at the excitable elf. "I'm ready, Dobby. Just tell me what you need me to do."

"Oh, you need to do nothing, Harry Potter. I will just hold onto your hand and we…" He snapped his fingers and Harry heard a loud _crack_.

Dobby let go and started jumping up and down. "Here we is! Here we is!"

Harry smiled at Dobby and looked around. They were in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.

"Dobby, that was a good way to travel. I wasn't looking forward to a portkey. Thanks."

"Oh, you is very welcome, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby was most pleased to be able to help the great wizard Harry Potter." Dobby looked delighted that Harry Potter thanked him for something.

Remus entered the kitchen. "Welcome to your other home, Harry. Why don't you get settled in then we'll have some lunch together."

"Dobby can unpack for you, Harry Potter. Dobby would be honored to. Then Dobby can try to make the lunch."

"I'd be glad of the company, Dobby." Together they started towards the stairs to Harry's room. Dobby's eyes were wide, looking at everything he could possibly see. The house still looked as dingy and dark as he remembered.

"This…this is Harry Potter's house? It is not what Dobby was expecting." Dobby sounded a bit hesitant.

Harry explained. "This house had belonged to my godfather who died recently. He left the house to Remus Lupin and me. He was a good man, but…some of his relatives were not so good. One of his cousins was Mrs. Malfoy."

Dobby's eyes grew wider still. "Dobby is understanding, sir."

"Dobby, maybe you can help with something." They were coming to the house elf heads. "One of my godfather's ancestors started a tradition of hanging their elves heads on the wall. To me, that doesn't seem like a very good tradition." Dobby shuddered. "In your opinion, what should be done?"

"That is a very _bad_ tradition. When a house elf dies, their body vanishes. This frees their spirit and magic. If they is not allowed to vanish, their spirit and magic is grounded to the house. They will never be free and their magic is to obey the will of their last owners forever." They were now even with the house elf heads. Dobby's eyes looked sorrowfully at them.

"How can we free them, Dobby. What must be done?"

"The current master must summon the magic of the elves from the house then command the vanishment of the remaining heads and the release of their spirits. It takes great Wizard power to do, but Dobby knows the words that must be said."

"Since Remus and I are both masters, would we both have to do this or could just one of us?" Harry knew he couldn't do magic outside of school so he hoped it could just be one master.

"Oh, only one master would be needed, Harry Potter."

Harry got a wide smile on his face. "Then what are we waiting for? Remus would gladly do it. Let's go get him and he could do it now!" Harry started to turn to head back to the kitchen.

"Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby was calling after him. Harry turned and saw Dobby twisting his ears. "It cannot be done now, sir. It must be done under a full moon."

Harry's heart dropped to his feet. Remus could never do it under a full moon and Harry wasn't allowed. "Is there any other way?"

"Is this a problem, sir? Could not your Remy wait until the next full moon and try?" Dobby sounded hopeful.

"Remus is a werewolf." Harry felt sick. Dobby's eyes dimmed with disappointment.

"Then he…he will never be able to free the elves?" Dobby asked hesitantly. He seemed very downhearted.

"No. He never will be able to." It just wasn't fair. There must be some way that he, Harry, could perform the spell. "Listen, Dobby, I will find a way to free the elves. I promise."

Dobby's eyes lit up and started watering again. "The great wizard Harry Potter is so noble and kind, brave and generous…"

"It's ok, Dobby." Harry wanted to stop Dobby from going on and on. "I haven't figured how to do it yet, but somehow I will."

* * *

After Dobby and Harry returned from unpacking, they met Remus down in the kitchen. Dobby got to work starting the meal. When he set it on the table, Harry was rather surprised that it didn't really taste any better than what he could have done himself, just some sandwiches with a butterbeer for Remus and Harry and a small glass of water for Dobby. He wouldn't say anything about it to Dobby, of course, but the small elf brought it up himself. He was sitting at the table with them at Harry and Remus' insistence.

"Dobby is apologizing for the quality of the food. Dobby has always been more of a house carer rather than a cooker." Dobby's bat-wing ears drooped.

"It doesn't matter, Dobby. We can both do the cooking. I'm just happy for your company." Harry wanted to cheer the elf up. Harry tried to get his mind off of it and searched for a new subject. "So, Dobby, how has Winky been doing?"

Wrong subject. Dobby's ears drooped lower still. "Winky is still getting drunk on butterbeer, Harry Potter. She is not happy being free and Dobby is not knowing how to help her. And now she is at the castle alone. The other elves will not help her."

Harry looked at Dobby and asked, "You've always helped take care of her, haven't you?"

Dobby nodded.

"Remus, do you think Winky could come here, too? That way Dobby can still keep watch over her." Dobby's head and ears lifted up. He looked at Remus with hope in his eyes.

"I'll be seeing Professor Dumbledore later this afternoon. I'll ask him then."

Dobby jumped out of his chair and ran to Remus. He threw his arms around him and started sobbing loudly. "Dobby didn't know that Harry's Remy would be as good and kind as the great Harry Potter!" Remus' eyes widened in surprise and he patted the small elf awkwardly on the head. Dobby calmed down some and stepped back. Remus lifted an eyebrow at Harry and Harry grinned at him. Dobby returned to his seat. He sat on his knees to be able to see above the table.

They continued to eat their lunch. Harry kept asking Dobby how life was going for the free elf and Dobby was excitedly telling about all that he did. He pointed out that Winky was better in the kitchen than he was.

"Dobby, I've seen you working in the kitchens before," Harry wondered why he had seen Dobby there if he didn't help make the food.

"Dobby helps lighting the fireplaces and stoves. Also the kitchens is where most house elves come and gets their orders for the day." Dobby kept the conversation up throughout the meal.

After the meal, Remus stood and looked to Harry. "I'm sorry I can't stay longer, but I need to meet with Dumbledore and will be leaving early in the morning. I'm afraid it may get a lonely here at times. There is the library. Be careful what you pull to read. Most of the darkest books have been destroyed, but there may be a few that were missed. You know how to contact me and I think you and I should keep in touch at least twice a week. How about Wednesday's and Saturday's for the minimum contact. More often if you need someone to talk to. Order members will often pop by at night to drop something off for Dumbledore or another member. Let me show you how we have this set up." Remus guided Harry to the Drawing Room. There was a box on the mantel above the fireplace next to the floo powder. "The members leave their reports in this box." Remus gave a sidelong glance to Harry who was looking at the box interestedly. "It's charmed so only Dumbledore can open it, so don't even try. You would get a nasty shock."

Harry shrugged. "It was a thought." He grinned at Remus.

Remus rubbed his knuckles through Harry's hair, making it stick out worse than ever. "There's nothing you can do for now, Harry. Just leave the Order business to the Order."

"Is there anything you can tell me of what's going on? Or what Voldemort is doing? I do have a bit of vested interest as I am one of his constant targets."

Remus sighed and said, "We know he has something else in the works but he's keeping it close to his chest. Most of what's going on now are exercises for his Death Eaters. Of course, these 'exercises' also help promote fear and panic in the wizarding world."

"What is the Ministry doing about it?" Now that they'd stopped denying what was happening, Harry wondered what steps could be taken.

"Fudge has started taking advice from Dumbledore again. They've boosted the Auror training program and have started putting some safety measures in several public places to alert aurors in case of trouble. Several stores in Diagon Alley have a direct communication floo connection to the Auror Division Offices, including _Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes_ and Gringotts The Knight Bus also has a new direct connection to the Aurors."

"But what would happen if Death Eaters found that connection? Couldn't they wipe out the Auror Headquarters?"

"It's for communication only, no travel allowed. Their Headquarters is also an unplottable location which very few people know. It should be safe."

Harry and Remus talked of a few other things for a while until Harry had another thought. "Remus, could we change a few things here? Get rid of some of these decorations?"

"I'm afraid we've tried. Even Sirius couldn't remove some of the decorations here. I've never seen anything like this before. It's like the house won't let them go. Like the troll leg umbrella stand or Mrs. Black's portrait. I know it has a permanent sticking charm on it, but there _are_ counters that could be done, but none of them are working." Remus was shaking his head.

Harry thought of what Dobby had said. If he could remove the house elf heads, maybe the rest of the stuff could finally be changed or removed.

Eventually Remus had to go meet with Dumbledore. He gave Harry a one-armed hug and told him he should be back within the hour.

"Dobby and I will be fine, Remus. Go on." Harry told him and shooed him out of the house.

After Remus left, Harry sat down to think. He wasn't sure what to do now. It looked like he would still be alone a lot and he wondered if he could keep to the same schedule as he had before for the most part. A lot would depend on Dobby.

"Dobby?" The little elf popped in front of him.

"You called Master Harry?" Dobby squeaked at him.

"Dobby, you definitely don't need to call me 'master'. But am I a sort of temporary 'master' or just a 'charge'?"

"What is Harry Potter meaning?" asked Dobby confused.

"Will you be reporting to someone on what I do or could you keep some of my secrets?"

Dobby's eyes opened wide. "Dobby is not reporting to anyone on Harry Potter. Dobby would be most honored to keep Harry Potter's secrets."

"You could keep my secrets and not have to tell anybody later?"

"Dobby would never tell Harry Potter's secrets! As Dobby is a free elf, Dobby can choose who to treat as a Master. A house elf may never betray a Masters secrets. Even now, Dobby can not tell the secrets Dobby has been forbidden to tell of the bad wizards he served before Harry Potter freed Dobby."

"That's good enough for me, Dobby. Come up to my room with me."

Harry took Dobby to his room and showed him the trunk. Dobby's eye grew wide as he looked around the trunk. "Your Weezy gave you this trunk. This is good of your Weezy."

"Dobby, let me introduce you to some people. Gideon, Fabian?" The twins both stepped into Gideon's portrait. "Hello. I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Dobby." They each had a bit of a strange look on their face, looking between Harry and the little elf. Dobby was shifting back and forth a little nervously.

Suddenly Fabian had a look of comprehension. "Dobby? You are the one who helped Harry in the past? Ron's told us about you!"

"And he's helping me again, by making life a little easier for me outside of this trunk. Dobby, will you be able to tell if someone is looking for me out there? I've been learning a lot of new things in here, but I don't want to worry anyone if they can't find me."

"Oh, Harry Potter is so kind and considerate of others; so…"

"Enough, Dobby." Harry tried to shush him. "Will you be able to tell?"

Harry heard Fabian tell Gideon, "Ron did say he was a bit of a nutter."

"Oh, yes, Harry Potter, sir. Dobby will be able to hear and warn Harry Potter when someone wants him." Dobby was bouncing on his feet to know a secret of Harry's and be able to help him with it.

"That's great, Dobby. You will be welcome to join us down here if you want. My friends are quite often here in the morning, but they usually leave at noon." Harry felt he should offer it to Dobby.

"Begging your pardon, but Dobby would rather spend the time cleaning Harry Potter's new house. Dobby has had a look around and has seen a lot that Dobby can do."

"Whatever you want, Dobby." Harry was a bit glad that Dobby didn't want to spend all his time down in the trunk, but he was glad Dobby would know where he was in case anyone would go looking for Harry.

At that moment, the door to the Weasley's opened and Ginny shouted down, "Harry?"

Harry was surprised, but shouted back, "What, Ginny?"

"Oh, you _are_ there! I've been shouting down every half hour to see if you were around. Can I come down?"

"Of course you can, Ginny."

Ginny climbed down the ladder. "I can only stay a minute…Oh!" She seemed surprised when she saw Dobby.

"Ginny, have you ever met Dobby?" Harry didn't think she had.

"No. Though I've heard a lot about him." She turned to Dobby and held out her hand to him. "How do you do, Dobby?"

Dobby looked at Harry. "This is Ginny Weasley, Ron's sister. She owns the matching trunk to the one I use."

Dobby took Ginny's hand in both of his and started to jumping up and down. "Dobby is most pleased to be meeting Harry Potter's Weezy's sister. Such an honor it is to meet you."

Ginny blinked a few times, then smiled at him. "Thank you, Dobby. Harry, we were wondering what was going to happen now. Do you know yet?" Ginny had turned to Harry with a questioning look on her face.

"It looks like Dobby and I are going to be pretty much on our own at Grimmauld Place; possibly Winky will be coming, too." Ginny looked confused. "Winky's another house elf. Ron will explain." Harry glanced over to where Dobby was now exploring the kitchen cupboards. He didn't want to go into Winky's history in front of him. "Anyway, I think I'll be able to pretty much keep the same schedule as before and be able to meet you guys in the morning as usual. Dobby said he'd warn me if anyone comes looking for me."

Ginny smiled. "Great! Mum would get suspicious if we suddenly changed how we did things. We would do it, but it sure would be easier if we didn't have to."

Dobby's ears suddenly perked up. "Harry Potter, sir! Your Remy has just returned. He is wanting to see you." Dobby then snapped his fingers and disappeared with a loud crack.

Harry's eyes widened and he started heading to the ladder. "Gotta go, Gin. See ya, tomorrow!" and he quickly climbed out of the trunk.

Remus greeted Harry with a smile. He told Harry that Winky would be joining him tomorrow. They then spent the rest of the day and well into the night talking.


	4. Battle for 12 and Winky

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 4 Battle for #12 and Winky

Harry took another shot at the Spellseye without his wand. He missed again. He was frustrated with himself. He had to do this! He focused on it again and let another shot go. Bullseye! He hit it. This was so much harder without a wand, but he had to get there. He also had the drawback of wearing the Ingravo Belt clicked to the third notch. Harry had been right that with the distractions of the increase of gravity, the concentration required was much more. Though it was harder to hit the target while practicing this way, after he took the belt off, his accuracy and power levels increased dramatically. His normal level was now Level 11 with 8.2 power. It felt slightly strange that he was working at the same level that his father and Sirius had worked at when they finished school. Harry thought that subconsciously he might even be lingering there a bit longer than he could just for that connection with them.

Harry wiped some sweat from his brow. He clenched his fist and thrust it at the Spellseye again. Another hit. Time for a short break. Harry flopped into an armchair and thought back over the past two weeks.

* * *

Winky had come Sunday morning. She looked even worse than Harry remembered. He could tell that she was massively depressed. Her dress was nothing more than a filthy rag. She smelled. She seemed to be more of a zombie than a house elf.

She made an attempt at breakfast but the eggs were runny and the toast burnt. Harry preferred his and Dobby's cooking, but he wouldn't take Winky's 'job' away from her. Remus looked at Harry with sympathy and Harry had grimaced back, but both knew that nothing more would be said. Remus left shortly after.

As soon as Remus left, Harry headed for the trunk. Ron and Ginny were already there. Harry and Ginny started their warm ups and Ron came to join the conversation. Harry had told them about Dobby and Remus coming for him at Privet Drive, the talk with Dobby about the house elf heads, Remus mentioning how the house wouldn't let go of many of the dark decorations, about Winky coming and her condition and finally about the spell Dobby said needed to be done during the full moon to remove the elf heads from the house.

Ron and Ginny were entranced. At the end, Ron said, "But what can you do, Harry? Remus can't do a spell during the full moon and you can't do magic outside of this trunk."

"I've got an idea. I just need some help from Gideon to get myself ready. He's been helping me with quieting my spells or being able to say them without words, but he also said he was interested in wandless magic."

Ron and Ginny wanted a demonstration of the silent incant and Harry lit his wand silently. Ron and Ginny were suitably impressed.

But Gideon's time would wait. This was Fabian's time and he was getting impatient with the chitchat. Harry turned on some music and off Harry and Ginny went to their exercises while Ron shot spells at the Spellseye.

When the exercises were done, Harry cleaned up, then walked over to Gideon's portrait. "Gideon, are you there? I need to talk to you."

Gideon walked into the picture, stretching and yawning. "I've never been the morning person Fabian was. What do you need, young Harry?"

"I need to learn how to do wandless magic by the end of the month."

Gideon's eyebrows raised up. "That may be a bit ambitious, don't you think?"

"It needs to be done. I made a promise to Dobby that a spell would be done under the next full moon and I'm the only one who can do it. But it will need to be done out there," Harry waved his hand towards the doors. "and the only way for me to do it and not be expelled will be to do it wandlessly."

"Do you know if it's a spell that needs just a little power or a lot of power?"

"Dobby said it needs a lot of power." Harry looked a little guiltily at Gideon.

"I can make no promises, Harry. But we can try. It will be on your shoulders to practice as much as you can."

"I will. This is very important to me and to Dobby. I have to do this." Harry was glad that Gideon would help him. He hoped things went ok.

Gideon straightened up and said, "Then let's start now. What wandless magic have you done already after starting Hogwarts?"

Harry thought back to his conversation with Remus. "Back before third year, my Aunt Marge was insulting my parents and I blew her up." Ron and Ginny started snickering.

Gideon looked alarmed. "What do you mean, 'blew up'?"

"Like a balloon. She was bouncing around the ceiling when I left. She had been insulting me all week, but when she started in on my mum and dad…I lost control."

Gideon smiled, too. "Did you mean to blow her up or did you just want her to stop talking?"

"I think I just wanted to stop her talking."

Gideon looked a bit disappointed. "What else?"

"After that incident I ran to a locked cupboard and it opened for me so I could get my trunk and my wand."

Gideon straightened up with that again. "That had to have been deliberate. What else?"

"Last summer when the Dementors attacked, I had dropped my wand and I knew I needed it if I was to fight them off so I said the 'Lumos' spell. It lit up a short ways away from me."

Gideon was looking excited at that. "Great! Another deliberate use. Anything else?"

"When I was frustrated with a root I was digging out I wanted something to chop the root. I heard a crash and an ax broke a window in my aunt's greenhouse. Then I was somehow able to repair it. I was thinking my uncle would kill me and that I really wished it would get repaired before he found out."

"A summoning charm and a reparo charm. Once again not deliberate and deliberate. Go on."

"The last one was the one I talked of earlier, when Snape went too far in his comments about my father and his friends. I stunned him and blew him across the yard. I just wanted to stop him talking and wanted him away from me."

"That one sounds like it wasn't deliberate. But you did have three instances where it was deliberate. That's better than I hoped for. It also sounds that you have used some spells that needed power behind them. Those were the not deliberate times. Your emotions seemed to have a big influence on it."

Ron was looking at Harry. "You blew up your Aunt Marge without your wand?"

"Yeah. Remus reckons that the Ministry was alerted when I accidentally used my wand to summon the Knight Bus."

"Do you mind if we try some of this stuff with you?" Ginny was nodding her head agreeing that she wanted to try as well as Ron.

"Of course I don't mind. It would only help me to have more people trying with me." Together they turned to Gideon.

"To start this, why don't we all try the Lumos spell as Harry did. Set your wand in front of you on the floor. Now a bit of theory on how it's supposed to work. When a wandless spell is used, the magic leaves your body in an unfocused way and travels out in all directions. That is probably why Harry was able to have his wand light when he didn't know where it was. Now give it a try."

All three children set their wands in front of them and said, "Lumos." Nothing happened at all. All three looked back at Gideon.

"Remember, wandless needs much more concentration. In a fighting situation thoughts can focus on what is needed to survive. That's a good concentrator. In an emotional situation, all distractions are overshadowed by whatever is the catalyst for the emotional response. You need to learn to create that focus for yourself in a non-emergency, non-emotional time. Try again."

Ron and Ginny immediately called out "Lumos" again, but Harry paused. He thought about what Gideon had said. He tried to remember the situations where he had used wandless magic and what Gideon said made sense. He tried to pull up the same intensity he remembered feeling in each of those situations then called, "Lumos". Harry's wand tip lit.

Harry, Ginny and Ron all gave whoops. "You did it, Harry!"

"Good going, mate!"

They finally calmed down and Ginny asked him what he did differently.

Just as when he was teaching the DA, Harry had to analyze what it was that he did to try to explain to the others what had to happen. "I thought back to the times I had done it before and realized that each time there was an…intensity…deep in my chest. I'm not totally sure how to explain it. Maybe a determination, but it's a powerful feeling. Try to concentrate on the feeling building in your chest and then let it go."

Ginny and Ron took longer to concentrate this time. Suddenly Ginny said, "Lumos" and her wand lit. She started jumping up and down, squealing and threw herself in Harry's arms. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Harry was laughing and even Ron looked over and laughed at how his sister was acting. Ron then turned back to his wand and tried the spell. "Lumos". The wand tip gave a flicker, but then went out. Harry and Ginny went to either side of Ron to give their encouragement.

"Try it again, Ron. Make sure you feel the ball of power in your chest before you release it with the spell. Why don't you take a deep breath first. That may help."

Ron took a deep breath and let it back out. He focused his gaze on his wand and after a moments said, "Lumos". His wand tip glowed.

Ginny gave him a hug, Harry slapped his back and Ron, with one arm around Ginny said to Harry, "Hope you don't mind if I don't give you a hug, mate. I reckon I'll leave that to Ginny."

"Perfectly fine with me." The three laughed and celebrated a moment longer and then turned back to Gideon. The rest of the morning Gideon had them practicing the Lumos spell and other spells that worked more by something catching the spell than by needing focus on the object itself.

The three spent a happy morning this way and at noon they all reluctantly headed out of the trunk. Harry was hoping that Winky was in better shape for lunch. He was doomed to disappointment. Lunch was similar to breakfast. Harry decided he would eat only a little and have a mid-afternoon snack in the trunk.

In the afternoon, Harry returned to the trunk and practiced some more. He also threw in some practice with the wordless magic and had decided to start using magic with the Ingravo Belt on to see if that helped at all.

* * *

Sunday evening disaster struck. Winky got into the Butterbeer. Harry had never seen such a sad sight. She moaned and rocked back and forth. Harry sat with her while he sent Dobby to find some antidote for her. Harry ordered all Butterbeer to be removed from the house. Dobby tried to argue because he knew Harry liked Butterbeer, but Harry stayed firm. It would be better if there was none around to tempt Winky. Harry could live with water or other juices.

Over the next two weeks Winky spiraled downwards. There was not butterbeer to drink, but she would try other substances. She found some Firewhiskey of Remus'. Dobby was horrified. Luckily she passed out after just a few sips because, as Dobby explained, Firewhiskey could be lethal to a house elf. After that incident Harry and Dobby tried to rid the house of anything even remotely alcoholic. Harry and Dobby basically had to keep a suicide watch over Winky. Dobby said that Winky just couldn't handle being a free elf. Harry asked Dobby some questions about what all was entailed of being an enslaved elf and what the process was to do it. Dobby answered him candidly. The owner and the elf both needed to be wholly willing. He told him of the words that needed speaking. Harry got a pensieve look on his face and decided he wanted to think about the idea that was forming.

His magical training was going well. He wasn't sure if his power level would be enough to perform Dobby's spell yet, but he was trying as hard as he could to get it to where it would need to be.

Luna had joined them in the trunk a few more times and had given the wandless book to Harry to read. There were several more suggestions in the book that helped improve the quality of their magic spellcasting. The three proceeded on to wandless shields and Harry had recently begun offensive wandless spells. Ron and Ginny were anticipating Hermione joining them at the Burrow the last full week of July.

* * *

Harry got back up. That brought him to today. Tomorrow was the start of the last full week of July and Hermione would be coming to the Burrow. He would be happy to see his friend. He had thought a lot more about the idea of taking Winky as his house elf, but somehow making the enslavement open-ended, giving the house elf or her descendents the opportunity for freedom if they chose. He thought if Hermione could support him in that, she might even be willing to help him alter the enchantment that would bind Winky and Harry together. Somehow he would have to approach her with this without her getting all upset about _SPEW. _

Harry had already talked to Remus about it this morning on their regular Saturday talk. Remus had said he would support whatever Harry decided as long as he talked to the Headmaster first. Harry decided to write a letter to the Headmaster.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_

_I am writing to you because of my concern for Winky, the house elf. Her depression has reached an all-time low and Dobby and I have been having to keep a constant watch to make sure she doesn't fatally hurt herself. She seems to have no will to live. Dobby believes that it all stems from being a free house elf. I was wondering what you would think about me offering to take Winky as my house elf. I know she currently works at Hogwarts, but she does not seem to be happy there. I have not approached her with this and there are a lot of unknowns in how this could work, but could you please stop by to see me some time to discuss this?_

_ Harry Potter_

Harry folded the parchment and climbed the ladder. He went down to the Drawing Room and looked at the box. He wondered if he would be able to open it, not to take anything out, but to put this letter in. Or if he would get shocked? He drew up his courage and decided to give it a try.

Harry approached the box and put his hand on the lid. He felt a slight buzz. He lifted the lid, slid the letter inside and let the lid close again. He stepped back, breathing deeply. He didn't want to admit how nervous he had been about that. He knew that several Order members came and went in the evening hours and even Dumbledore had been there for a few meetings with members, but as they weren't there to see Harry, he didn't bother to get in their way. If he happened to be around or in the kitchen, he'd offer then coffee or tea, but other than that he let them go about their own business. He figured that with Mrs. Weasley not cooking, they didn't have as much incentive to stay around.

Harry returned to the trunk and his Spellseye. He closed his eyes to help focus on the feeling building inside his chest, clenched his fist and punched it towards the Spellseye with a cry of "Subsisto". The temporary stopping spell hit the target. Harry had found that he could direct the magic easier for now if he 'punched' or 'threw' the magic to his target.

He was up to Level 5 wandlessly with an average power 6.3. He knew the moving target lowered the level of the focused power. He just hoped with a stationary target like the elf heads that his power level would be high enough to cast Dobby's spell.

Harry had been practicing most of the afternoon when Dobby popped in.

"Harry Potter, sir! Headmaster Dumbledore is wishing to see you!"

Harry blinked in surprise. He wondered if the Headmaster came in response to his letter or if he had been planning to stop by anyway. "I'll be right there, Dobby."

"Very good, Harry Potter." Dobby disappeared with a loud crack.

Harry left the trunk and made his way to the Drawing Room.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, what can I do for you?"

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling as he smiled at Harry. "The question is 'What can _I_ do for _you_?' I believe you wanted to see me about a house elf currently residing in your home?"

"Yes! You should see Winky. I'm worried about her." Harry's brow was furrowed in concern as he thought of the small house elf.

Dumbledore smiled at him. "I see your heart is in the right place in regards to Winky. If she should consent, I would have no trouble with you bonding with her. What are your concerns about it?"

"I don't want her and all her children enslaved to my line. I don't believe I would ever abuse her, but if someday I have kids, I can't guarantee what they will do. Do you know if the spell can be altered to allow an escape clause for her and her family?"

Dumbledore's smile widened. "I don't believe it has ever been done before, but that's not to say that it couldn't."

Harry nodded to himself. "That's what I was thinking. Tomorrow Hermione comes to the Burrow. I was thinking to ask her to help me figure out how to do it."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled a little brighter. "Yes. That would be something to ask her the next time you see her. I believe I've seen a few books in the library here that may be able to help with the reconstruction of the spell." Harry missed it at the time that Dumbledore mentioned that Harry would be seeing Hermione, not just writing to her. "What other concerns do you have?"

"I'm still in school and Remus isn't here a whole lot. Dobby likes being free and working at Hogwarts. I'm afraid of what would happen to Winky if she is left alone here."

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "If she truly accepts the bond, she should be all right. If what I suspect is true, it is possible that what she currently needs is something to hang on to. If she is bonded to you, she would hang on to you, even if you are not there. Would you mind if I saw her?"

"No, sir. I'll go get her. She seems to have lost her way to transport like Dobby can." Harry left the room and returned a short while later leading an apathetic Winky. Dumbledore's eyes drew together in concern and Harry left the two to talk. A short while later Professor Dumbledore led Winky to the kitchen where Harry and Dobby were sharing a small tea while waiting. Harry stood up and followed the beckoning Dumbledore.

"I believe your fears are well founded. I believe Winky is willing herself to die. If something isn't done relatively soon, nothing may be able to _be_ done." His face looked gravely at Harry over his half-moon spectacles.

"How long do we have do you think?" Harry hadn't wanted to hear that it was truly as bad as he suspected.

"At most, the end of summer. I doubt that she will ever make it to return to Hogwarts." Dumbledore's eyes looked sadly at Harry.

"Would it be better for you to take her back with you now?"

"No. Dobby has shown much more care and concern than the other house elves. I believe her time would be even shorter away from here."

Harry nodded. This would be another thing he would have to do to help his two elf friends. He would somehow convince Hermione that he had to take Winky into his service. He gave another determined nod.

"Thank you for stopping by, Headmaster." Harry tilted his head. "How did you know that I wanted to talk to you so soon? You don't usually show up on a Saturday afternoon."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Your letter, of course. This handy little box here actually has a companion box in my office. I can tell when a report…or a letter…has been placed inside of it."

"I thought when you stopped by here you removed the letters."

"Actually the charm on the box needs to be refreshed every week and that is what I am doing." With their meeting concluded, Dumbledore left and Harry went to plan on how to approach both Winky and Hermione with his idea.

* * *

Early the next morning Harry was down in the trunk when the Weasley lid opened and Hermione came quickly down the ladder followed by Ron and Ginny. As she reached the bottom she quickly crossed to Harry and gave him a hug. "Oh, Harry. It is so good to see you. I've not heard one word from you this summer and only bits from Ron and Ginny about you. How are you? You look well. What's been going on? What have you been up to?" The last was said with a bit of a glare.

Harry started laughing. "Don't you trust me? I've been fine, but I do have something I need to talk to you about, but that can wait for now." He turned to Ron and Ginny. "What all have you explained yet?"

Ginny answered. "We've explained most of it. Kind of did an overview of the routine we've started down here. She's rather suspicious of us though."

"I just know you is all. There is always more than what appears to be with you guys. What's up?" Hermione settled herself into one of the chairs. Harry started the fire illusion while Ron and Ginny floated over the two stools.

After the four friends got settled, Harry started, "Actually there are some things I want to share with you. Did Ron and Ginny tell you about the house elf heads?" At Hermione's nod Harry continued, "Well, there is another reason for learning Wandless and Wordless magic as well; just not as urgent as the house elf heads. Let me get something a minute."

Harry got up and retrieved his father's journal. "I haven't had as much time to read this since I've been moved to Grimmauld Place but I'd like you to read this section I've got marked." Harry handed the book to Hermione. Ron and Ginny moved behind her to read over her shoulder.

As Hermione read her eyes got bigger and bigger. "So that's what took the time to become an animagus? Learning the Wandless and Wordless magic? Oh, Harry, this could really be something useful." Harry smiled at the excitement lit in Hermione's eyes.

"Harry, mate, why didn't you show us this before?" Ron's eyes also had excitement in them.

"For one thing, I've recently been distracted by trying to learn enough to be ready by the full moon for Dobby's spell. I also didn't want to say anything in case you guys totally couldn't do it. I've no doubt that Hermione will catch up quickly. She always has been able to focus her concentration, unlike us." Harry gave a laugh. Hermione blushed. "It will still be quite a while before we will be anywhere near good enough to try anything like this transformation, but we can start thinking about it. I've even started a list of what traits I'd like my animal to have. You guys can start lists, too, if you're interested."

Ginny spoke up. "What kind of traits have you thought of so far, Harry?"

"Well, I thought I'd like my animal to be strong, in case I'd have to be able to protect someone; fast, to help get away from a bad situation; and I'd absolutely love to be able to fly." Harry's eyes drifted off, gazing at some far distance. The others all smiled. Secretly they all thought that would almost be a given for Harry. His flying was almost an instinctual thing. Harry belonged in the air.

Ron was glancing at the journal page again. "It's funny to think that the traits they wanted came true for two of the three. Prongs was a very majestic character, not a lion, but it sounds like he was having doubts about that anyway, and Sirius certainly had shock value and both of them were large creatures. Wormtail wanted his creature's traits for not so honorable reasons. I'm glad his personality overruled his choice." That was spoken with disgust. There were general murmurs of agreement.

Harry spoke up again. "I was just thinking, if you wanted another reason to keep learning this stuff, possibly becoming an animagus could be some incentive."

Ron grinned. "You reckon, mate? I say let's go for it!"

* * *

After their discussion, Hermione was introduced to the Prewett brothers. Fabian kept making hints that Harry and Ginny needed to be getting on with their morning routine. Hermione looked over the books and started reading the wandless magic one. She was feeling some pressure to catch up and wanted to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. Every so often she would glance up as Ron would try to get her attention drawn to how he was doing on the Spellseye.

After they finished practicing their wandless spells with Gideon, Hermione came over to Harry. "So what else was it you wanted to talk to me about."

Harry started getting nervous. "I need you to come with me and see something." Harry moved to his ladder and started to climb. All three of his friends followed him. As his friends were climbing out of the trunk, Harry called Dobby. "Dobby? Are there any other people in the house right now?"

"No, Harry Potter. The house is empty of any others."

"Good." He turned to the others and said, "Follow me." Harry led them down to the kitchen. Winky was there.

Hermione ran over to Winky. "Winky! Are you ok?" Winky didn't even respond. Hermione looked up at Harry, very distressed.

Harry looked soberly back at her. Dobby came back in the kitchen and covered Winky with a blanket. Harry placed a hand on Dobby's shoulder in thanks and he and his friends silently returned to Harry's room.

Once they were back in the trunk, Hermione turned on Harry.

"Harry, what is wrong with her? She looks so bad!"

"I asked Professor Dumbledore to come over yesterday. He believes she is willing herself to die."

Tears sprang up in Hermione's eyes and Ginny's breath caught on a sob. "What can be done? Why?"

"The Professor believes as does Dobby, that Winky doesn't want to live because she is free."

"But…"

Harry interrupted Hermione. "I know how _you_ feel about elf freedom, but you need to see how _Winky_ feels. I agree in part with giving freedom to the elves who want it, but some, like Winky, apparently can't survive with it. She is dying."

Hermione stopped, breathing heavily. Then she closed her eyes and broke down crying. Ginny also was crying. Ron stepped close to Hermione and put an arm around her for comfort. Harry felt that left him to comfort Ginny. He felt a bit awkward doing this with Ron right there next to him but he was busy with Hermione. Harry put an arm around Ginny and she buried her face in his shoulder. Harry felt a protective surge run through him.

"I have an idea to save Winky, but I'll need your help, Hermione." Hermione's head lifted from Ron and she looked at Harry with hope. Ron also looked at Harry and got a strange look on his face seeing him holding Ginny. The look changed into a grin.

"I'd do anything, Harry. What do you need help with?" A light seemed to click on in her head and her face clouded over a bit. "Are you thinking of having her be _your_ house elf?"

"In a way. I do agree that the elves should have a choice and even though Winky would choose to serve, I don't like the idea of automatically enslaving all her children. Dobby told me the spell used to perform the ritual and I was wondering if it couldn't be changed to give the elf and her offspring the choice of freedom at any time in the future, regardless of what the 'master' or my offspring might say about it. I mean…I hope my kids, if I ever have any wouldn't be jerks, but there's no guarantee, is there?" Harry looked hopefully at Hermione.

Harry could tell Hermione was thinking it over carefully. The other three friends stayed quiet while Hermione processed the idea. She lifted her head and asked Harry, "What did Dumbledore say when you asked him about it?"

"He said it had never been done before, but he thought that it could. He also said there were some books he thought might help in changing the spell in my library upstairs." Harry waited for Hermione's response.

Harry saw the light of a challenge light in Hermione's eyes and enthusiasm grow. "This might be the answer to S.P.E.W.! Instead of convincing the elves to take freedom all at once, convince the masters to give them the option! Once we get the spell changed for the original spellcasting, maybe we can find an adaptation for elves already in service!" Hermione was already heading back to Harry's ladder to go look in his library.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. He called over to Hermione, "Remember to keep out of sight if anyone should come by. You're not supposed to be there."

Ginny gave Harry a squeeze. "You know, that's an excellent idea. That gives the elves true choice; the choice of enslavement if that is what they wish or freedom." Harry looked down and grinned at her.

Ron cleared his throat. "If you're finished giving comfort now to my distraught sister, you could let go at any time." He grinned at the two of them. Harry flushed red. He hadn't really realized he still had his arm around Ginny.

* * *

Harry had to eventually drag Hermione away from the library so she could return to the Weasley's for lunch. It wasn't easy, but Harry was finally able to get her to leave by giving her a stack full of books to take with her and a promise of being able to return to search out more. She was extremely excited and full of enthusiasm for her new project.

Harry returned to have lunch with Dobby and Winky. Dobby and Harry tried to coax Winky to eat some food they had made. Harry didn't want to mention his plans yet to Winky until they figured a way to work the bit about the elves always having the choice of enslavement or freedom into the spell, but he was getting very worried. Winky seemed to have lost the use of her magic. Dobby said it was a sign of her depression.

In the afternoon, Harry practiced some more in his trunk then grabbed the book on wandless magic and brought it up to read near Winky so Dobby could have a break. The next few days passed in a similar pattern. Wednesday Harry told Remus what Professor Dumbledore had said and how he was planning to modify the spell. He left out Hermione's part in it because he wasn't sure how to explain how he was in contact with her.

* * *

On Thursday, Harry had another surprise. Coming down the ladder along with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny was Neville Longbottom. He was looking around with wide eyes and an impressed look on his face. The others quickly introduced him to the portraits and explained what they had been doing down here.

Neville explained that his Great Uncle Algie ran across a Nundu in Egypt. The bubble-headed charm kept most of the giant leopards' poisonous breath away from him, but he did breathe in enough to make him quite ill. He would recover, but Neville's Great Aunt Enid asked for Neville's Gran to come help take care of him for a week or so. Molly Weasley had run into her at Diagon Alley and heard the story and offered the Burrow as an alternative for Neville if he didn't want to travel to Egypt with his Gran.

"I don't mind Egypt or seeing my Great Aunt and Uncle, but things have been a bit tense between my Gran and me this summer."

Harry felt a little sick. "Is it because of your father's wand?"

Neville shrugged. "She's been a little strange this summer. One moment she doesn't want me to go anywhere, afraid I'll get hurt and the next she's praising me for taking on Death Eaters and then she's back to being upset about my father's broken wand and telling me to be more careful with things. I just can't figure her out anymore."

"Did you get a new wand, yet?" Harry wondered if Neville's new wand would be a better fit than his father's wand.

"No, not yet. But I've still got the pieces of my father's wand."

Harry shuddered. He couldn't imagine not having a wand for over a month. He was beginning to learn wandless magic, but it just wasn't the same. Spells were definitely easier with a wand and more powerful. Without his wand, Harry had always felt very insecure.

Harry felt a little strange. Every person who had gone with him to the Ministry of Magic was in the neighborhood. Memories came back clearly of why they had been lured there. Harry had become quite adept at not thinking about the prophecy, but now it all came crashing down on him. Kill or be killed. Each one of his friends had a right to know why they had been put in danger at the Ministry. But how much to tell?

Harry kept debating back and forth in his mind all morning, missing the looks his friends kept shooting at him. Finally Ginny came over to him and asked, "Harry, what's bothering you? You've been very quiet since Neville got here."

Harry looked and saw Neville had a hurt look on his face. Harry smiled at him to try to set him at ease. He looked back to Ginny and said, "I've just got something on my mind. Would you be able to ask Luna to come over tomorrow morning?"

Ginny looked surprised, but agreed to ask her. Harry then made an attempt to rejoin the conversation and take an active part in things.

By lunch time, things had seemed back to normal. Neville was actually quite adept at Wandless magic after only one day. He could do the Lumos spell and even some shields. Harry wondered how much of a hindrance his father's wand actually had been for Neville.

Neville had other questions, too. He wondered where Harry was staying. He wondered why the second ladder was there since all he saw was a solid ceiling above it instead of a door. Harry explained he was staying at a secret location and that was why Neville couldn't see the entrance to it.

In the afternoon, when Harry was by himself, he decided to push his power levels wandlessly. He set the Ingravo Belt to the eighth notch and practiced with the Spellseye. Harry kept his focus solely on what he needed to be doing. He only had one week left before he would try the spell. At this level, it was very difficult to even lift his arms to try to throw the spells out, but Harry did over and over again; while sweat poured down his body.

By dinner time, Harry was exhausted. He showered and left the trunk to relieve Dobby. Sitting with Winky gave Harry plenty of time to think.

Harry figured it would be safe to tell them the first part of the prophecy. And really, that basically was the gist of the whole thing. Voldemort just didn't know that and it was probably better that he didn't know that.

* * *

The next morning Harry met the others down in the trunk. He enlarged a couple of shrunken pouffes he had found in one of the cupboards that was filled with all sorts of shrunken furniture.

When they were all comfortable, Harry started, "First off, I want to thank you all for coming with me last month to the Ministry and I'm sorry you all got hurt." Harry's friends made a move of protest, but he stopped them. He looked straight at Ginny. "I know that it was a trick and that Voldemort is to blame, but that doesn't make me stop regretting that by following me, you all got hurt." Harry paused and looked at the floor, then he continued. "After that night, Headmaster Dumbledore sent me to his office." Harry gave a bit of an ironic snort. "More like _trapped_ me in his office. I wasn't pleased to say the least…Well, after he watched me wreck a few of his things…" Hermione gasped. "…he calmed me down enough to listen to what he had to say. He told me the prophecy."

Hermione sat up straight. "Of course! The sphere said 'SPT to APWBD – Dark Lord and ? Harry Potter'. APWBD must be Dumbledore! _He_ heard the prophecy! Who could SPT have been?"

"Trelawney."

Hermione snorted. "You must be kidding me. She's a fraud!"

"Hermione, do you remember back at the end of third year I told you she had gone into a sort of strange trance and predicted Wormtail escaping and bringing back the Dark Lord? At the time Dumbledore said it was her second true prediction."

"But…" Hermione did not want to believe all the trouble had been caused because of a prediction by the teacher she held the least respect for.

"It doesn't matter if we believe it to be true or not. It doesn't even really matter that Dumbledore believes it to be true. _Voldemort_ believes it to be true."

Ginny cut in. "He knows the prophecy? Then why go to all the trouble to get the sphere?"

"He knows _part_ of the prophecy. A Death Eater had been caught part way through it listening at the door. He knows the first part. He knows:

'_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches; born to those who have thrice defied him; born as the seventh month dies…'". 1_

The others all turned chalk white. Neville started trembling. Hermione was the first with the denials. "Well, that's very imprecise. There could be several children born in late July whose parents escaped Voldemort three times."

Neville spoke up with a skaky voice. "Yeah…Me." The others besides Harry snapped their heads around to look at Neville. "My Gran has always told me how my parents escaped him three times."

Harry put a hand on Neville's shoulder. "You're right, Neville. That's why there was a question mark on the sphere before they wrote my name. They didn't know if the prophesy was about you or me."

Ron was shaking his head. "This doesn't make sense. If I was You-Know-Who and I heard a prophesy like that and had a choice of two babies, why'd he go after you? I mean, no offense, Harry, but he should have gone after Neville." Neville's face turned even whiter.

Hermione was confused. "What? Why should he have gone after Neville instead of Harry?"

Luna was the one who answered, much to Harry's surprise. "Ronald is right, Hermione. Death Eaters believe that Pure Bloods have power. Neville's a Pure Blood. Harry's a Half Blood. So why did he go after the Half Blood? Does this have something to do with what you said in the Room of Prophecies; that He Who Must Not Be Named is a Half Blood?"

"Harry's not a Half Blood. Both of his parents were magical." Hermione needed to understand.

Luna tilted her head to one side. "You need to think like a Death Eater, Hermione. What is their view on muggle-borns?"

"They hate them. They think we have dirty blood. They think we are…on the same level as muggles?" Hermione was looking close tears. "At most, any child of mine would be a Half Blood?"

Ron went to her and put his arm around her. "Those are Death Eater terms, Hermione. Anyone other than them won't care a knut about what type of blood your child would have. At least not any who are worth knowing."

"Thanks, Ron." Hermione sniffed once more then settled back in her chair.

Harry turned to Luna. "You are right, Luna. As much as Voldemort preaches superiority of the Pure Bloods, he obviously doesn't believe it himself. He chose me _because_ I wasn't the Pure Blood."

Ginny spoke up. "Crikey, Harry. He's _never_ going to stop going after you. He won't stop until you're dead! It's more than just a point of pride that you lived when he tried to kill you. This says _you_ can vanquish _him_! He _has_ to kill you or he believes you could kill him!"

"Could you kill him?" Neville broke in the conversation again.

"I don't know. I don't much like the thought of being a murderer."

Now Hermione got mad. "Harry James Potter! That is not the same thing! Killing in a time of war to protect innocent people is not the same as being a murderer. You didn't have a problem when Quirrell died in first year when he was trying to kill you…"

"Or in destroying Tom Riddle when he was killing me!" Ginny burst in.

"You're right, but I don't even know how he could be killed anymore. Why didn't he die when Avada Kedavra rebound on him the first time he tried to kill me? If that can't kill him, what can?"

They all sat thinking about that for a short while. Eventually Ron asked, "What about the rest of the Prophecy?"

"Dumbledore told me, but Voldemort still doesn't know it. I won't risk any of you getting tortured for it. He can tell when you tell the truth or not. He would know you weren't lying when you said you didn't know it. All I will say is that it does add more confirmation that it definitely is me and not Neville who the prophecy is about."

Harry sighed. "I trust all of you. It's common knowledge that I've been a target of Voldemort's. I just think you have the right to know that I will always _be_ a target of Voldemort's. Staying close to me will just increase the danger you will be in."

Ron spoke up. "Ginny and I would be in danger anyway. Most of our family is actively fighting against You Know Who." Ginny nodded in agreement.

Hermione smiled at Ron. "I'd be in danger, too. I'm a muggle-born."

Ron muttered, "One who is smarter than the lot of them put together."

Neville added, "My Gran and I were always against him as well. Besides, I'm the other choice." He still looked slightly green at that. "No offense Harry, but I'm glad it's you."

"I've already been targeted back in my first year with the diary. I'm sure he already knows my name." Ginny had a stubborn look on her face.

Luna looked at Harry with her unblinking eyes. "I will always be your friend, Harry."

Harry smiled at her. "Thanks, Luna." He looked at the rest of them. His heart swelled with emotion. "Thank you, all. Enough of this heavy stuff. Let's take a day off and play some games!"

Harry aimed his wand at the games cupboard and the doors opened. They all forced themselves to put this discussion aside for the moment and try to enjoy just being together.

* * *

Saturday morning Harry got the news from Remus that he'd be coming to Grimmauld Place the next morning to stay the week for his transformation. Harry would be happy to have Remus around again. He wanted to do something for Neville's birthday since he was around. There were several other things he would like to be able to get as well. He wondered if Remus would let him go to Diagon Alley.

"I'm afraid not, Harry."

"Remus, I haven't been outside for over a month! I'm going to go stir crazy if I can't at least see the sun!"

Remus looked like he was debating something with himself. Finally he said, "I'll tell you what Sirius used to do. He used to sit on the roof for an hour each day with Buckbeak. I know it's not the ideal situation but at least you could get some sun that way. But you have to remember to come in before the end of the hour. The Disillusionment charm wears off after an hour and you're unprotected out there."

Harry and Remus both headed to the roof. The day was a pleasant day for late July and they brought along some chairs to sit on. Harry looked out over the city. Everything seemed so close yet so far.

"Remus, what can I do if I want to buy some stuff? How can I get it? Neville's birthday's coming up and I know what I want to get him, but I have to arrange it in Diagon Alley and you guys said I couldn't use Hedwig."

Remus looked at Harry sharply. "What all do you want to buy? I know you've got quite a bit of money, but you have to be sure you don't spend it frivolously."

"I'm not planning to spend money frivolously. I want to pay for Neville's new wand. His father's broke when he was fighting Death Eaters because he followed me and I want to pay for his new one. There must be some way to buy things, even without letting vendors know that it's me that's paying for it because I know Sirius bought my Firebolt that way. And just little things. I'd never replaced the watch that was broken in my fourth year. It would be nice to have one. My robes are finally getting a bit short. I know I'm still not all that tall, but they are two years old and I have grown _some_ since then. I wouldn't mind some more books, either."

"For now I'll take a note to Ollivanders which can authorize payment for Neville's wand. Most shops have mail order catalogs. I'll pick up some for you this week. I'll have to find out from Professor Dumbledore what to do about deliveries."

"That'd be great, Remus. Could you get me some remodeling or decorating catalogs as well? I don't think Sirius would mind me spending some money trying to brighten up this place." Harry tried to add this with a nonchalant attitude.

It didn't work. Remus looked at him suspiciously. "We've already tried, Harry. This place is just resistant to any changes." His eyes narrowed. "What do you have up your sleeve? You know you can't do magic outside of school."

"I promise I won't use my wand for any magic in Grimmauld Place. Don't worry. It's just a thought and nothing might ever come of it. I'd start small and not spend a whole lot unless I see that something can be done." Harry held his breath, hoping Remus wouldn't catch his slight twisting of what Remus was concerned about and what Harry promised him. Harry figured he would be testing the limits of the Ministry's reading of Wandless magic Thursday night with the elf heads spell. The Ministry would either catch him at it or not. If they did, he wouldn't try any more outside of school or the trunk. BUT, if they didn't catch him using it, he knew he was going to keep using his magic wandlessly. It was a stupid rule that they couldn't do magic outside of school anyway.

Harry had not been using wandless magic outside of the trunk because he knew the spell for the elf heads was too important to risk getting a notice for some small bit of magic. If he was going to get in trouble, he wanted it to be for something worthwhile.

When their hour was almost up, Harry and Remus went inside. Harry went to the desk in the drawing room to get some parchment and Remus told him what should be included in the letter for Ollivander.

* * *

Monday morning Remus left for Diagon Alley. He brought back a huge pile of catalogs from all different types of stores. He warned Harry not to order anything as of yet until Dumbledore made arrangements for delivery. As much as Harry wanted to start going through the catalogs, he knew Thursday night was coming up fast, so when Remus went to take a nap, Harry headed for the trunk to practice his wandless magic. To his surprise, Hermione was in the trunk already. She was surrounded by several different types of books.

"Harry, I'm so glad you came down here. I think I've got the spell revision figured out. There are just a couple of changes. The original spell roughly translates to 'Will you and your descendants be a slave to me and my family household for all eternity.' Pretty nasty. What I've been able to come up with is a revised version of 'Will you and your descendants be a slave to me and my family household for as long as you are willing.' That's as close as I can come which would still give Winky and her children some freedom of choice. The drawback is that the power behind the spell will need to be increased a bit…" Hermione looked a bit uncomfortable.

"How much of 'a bit'?" Harry was a bit leery of Hermione's uncomfortable look.

"Oh, I'm not worried. You can do it. You are a powerful wizard, Harry. If you could do a Patronus at 13 I'm sure you could handle this. You just will really have to focus on this, ok?"

"Can I use my wand? Can we do this in the trunk?" Something was still off. Harry just knew it.

"Um…Well, it has to be done for the primary house she will serve. Since this trunk uses another dimension I'm not sure what that would do to the spell. I'm afraid you'll have to do it wandlessly out there." She tilted her head to indicate up Harry's ladder.

Harry closed his eyes. Now there were two big things he needed to do wandlessly and he wasn't sure he could do either.

Another voice joined in the conversation. Gideon was listening to what they were saying. "Harry, you have been able to do some very powerful things. Especially when your emotions are high and what needs to be done really matters to you. You can do it. If possible, have your friends with you to support you."

"Yes! We'll be there for you, Harry. All of us." Hermione was anxiously watching Harry.

Harry opened his eyes and gave Hermione a sickly grin. "Well, I'll certainly do my best. I think I'll try to get some more practice in while I can."

* * *

Monday evening passed quickly. Harry explained to Dobby what he was hoping to do for Winky and Dobby was very enthusiastic.

"Oh, Harry Potter, sir! That is a wonderful idea. Winky does so miss having a master and to have the Great Wizard Harry Potter…Dobby almost wishes to join, too." Dobby then hung his head.

Harry thought he understood. "Dobby, you know you always be my friend. You don't have to work for me to keep that friendship. If you need a place there will always be one with me if you want it. It doesn't matter to me if you are free and paid or not. You've become my friend. Whether you work for me or somewhere else."

"Dobby is so relieved, Harry Potter. Dobby really does like his freedom, but Dobby also likes being with Harry Potter. Dobby is so glad he will not lose the friendship of the Great Harry Potter if Dobby stays at Hogwarts." Dobby's eyes started leaking at the corners.

Harry and Dobby approached Winky. Harry tried to tell Winky that he would like her to become his house elf, but Winky wasn't responding well. Winky rocked back and forth, moaning, "Winky is a bad house-elf! Winky has _clothes_! Winky _deserves_ clothes!"

Harry didn't know what to do. "Winky, please, listen to me. You are a _good_ house elf. You took care of your masters son and house all by yourself and you did a good job. I need someone like that. This house has had some bad wizards and they didn't treat their house elves well, but I want to change that. The bad wizards are gone and this is my house now, but I need someone to take care of it. I can't be here all the time. I need some I trust to do a good job while I'm away to take care of my house. I need someone to take care of me, too. I trust you to do that. Please, Winky, would you consider being my house elf?"

Winky shook her head back and forth. "It be no good. This house won't give up the magic of past elves to let it be taken care of for good wizards. Winky will not be able to keep it how a master would want it and then Winky would be bad house elf again!" Winky burst into noisy tears. Her large tomato nose turning red.

"Winky, if I can free the house of the old house elf magic, would you consider working for me?"

"Ah, sir, Dobby has said you is a great wizard. If Harry Potter could free the elf magic from the house…" Winky was clearly trying to think things through but having a difficult time. For the past month she had been unresponsive to almost anything and this was the first time she was trying to be lucid. It was clearly taking a toll on her thought processes.

Dobby joined in. "Harry Potter is a great wizard! He can do anything he sets his mind to. He had Dobby freed when Dobby wanted that above all else, even when Dobby didn't even dare to think it possible! Harry Potter can free this house and help Winky!"

Harry felt uncomfortable with Dobby's praise. He didn't know if he could do it yet. He wasn't sure where Dobby got all this boundless faith in his abilities. He felt he needed to clear one thing up, though, if he should succeed.

"Just one thing, Winky…I'm a little strange for a master. I strongly believe in choice. I have a hard time with the concept of taking you or any house elf into my service and automatically forcing all your children to serve my family forever. With my belief I offer you the choice to serve me or not as you wish. But with the help of my friend, we've modified the enslavement spell so there is always a choice. For you. For your children. If you have a child, who like Dobby, would prefer freedom, they would have that freedom, no matter what my descendants would say. But you also have a choice to refuse that freedom and you can serve as proudly as any house elf."

Winky wasn't saying anything but she was still listening.

"I have seen how some house elves have been treated by their masters and I would like to protect your children from that fate."

Winky finally responded in a whisper. "If Harry Potter can remove the elf magic…we shall see."

"Thank you, Winky."

* * *

Tuesday came and Harry and Dobby tried baking a cake. Winky just watched them, occasionally correcting something they were about to do wrong. Harry was happy to see her involving herself even this much. The end result of the cake was a bit lopsided, but Harry thought it should taste all right. Remus was sleeping in quite late as his body was beginning to weaken for the full moon in two nights.

Harry climbed down the ladder and Dobby cracked down along with the cake. Harry had Dobby set it on the counter and asked if he wanted to wait for Neville as he had helped make the cake. Dobby still seemed amused by the idea of being able to get the credit for something he helped make.

After just a few minutes the others joined Harry and Dobby in the trunk.

"Happy Birthday, Neville! Dobby and I made you a cake." Neville looked surprised. Dobby beamed at being mentioned by Harry and popped away.

"You didn't have to do that, Harry." Neville was looking amazed.

Ron broke in. "Yeah, Harry. Mum is making him a cake later on for his party."

Hermione poked Ron in the side and Ginny glared at him. Ron looked confused. "What?"

Harry knew what. He couldn't go to the party. He at least had the mornings with his friends, but knew he missed out a lot on what they could do together during the rest of the day. Something twisted inside of him.

"Well, since I can't join that party, I thought we could have a small one here." Harry tried to smile. Ron suddenly had a look of comprehension on his face and started to turn red. Harry continued, "I reckon you can never have too much cake, even if it is a bit lopsided. Dobby and I aren't the best cooks, but we get by. I also have a gift for you." Harry handed Neville the gift note from Ollivander's.

Neville took it and started to protest that it was too much.

Harry looked seriously into Neville's eyes and said, "Neville, please let me do this. You were so brave in the Department of Mysteries and I know how much any item from your parents means to you. I know what they mean to me. I feel partly responsible for your father's wand breaking. Let me do this little thing to help me feel better."

Neville stared back into Harry's eyes and slowly nodded. "Thanks."

Harry shifted his attention back to the others. "I know it's early but what about some cake?"

Ron jumped forward eagerly. Hermione, on the other hand, started scolding. "Harry, you can't have cake right after breakfast!"

Harry just grinned at her. "If it makes you feel better, Hermione, I'm not. This _is_ my breakfast!"

Hermione's eyes grew wide and Ginny started laughing.

* * *

Over the cake, Harry updated Hermione on his conversation with Winky. He told her how Winky seemed to listen and responded to what they were saying; how she even seemed to accept the modified spell as long as Harry could rid the house of the elf magic. If Harry failed, Winky wouldn't accept and he was afraid Winky would die.

"You _can_ do it, Harry. I know this in my heart." Hermione's words lifted his spirits. "You can free the house elves and save Winky."

* * *

Tuesday passed just as quickly as Monday. After his friends left before noon, Harry had some lunch and then practiced all afternoon; only coming out of the trunk when Dobby told him Remus was up and about. When Harry was out of the trunk, Winky seemed to shadow him like a silent, watching ghost. Harry thought he saw a bit of hope in her large tennis-ball eyes.

* * *

Wednesday morning Harry woke up to a house elf bouncing on his bed. "Wake up, Harry Potter, sir! Wake up, Harry Potter! It is your birthday. Wake up!"

"I'm awake," Harry mumbled. "Wha' time issit?" Harry yawned. He looked around. Winky was standing silently in a corner, watching. Harry smiled at her.

"It is seven o'clock, Harry Potter! Time to get up! Come to the kitchen, Harry Potter, sir! We has something for you!" Dobby was still bouncing on Harry's bed with Harry still in it.

Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair and sat up. "I'll be right there." Dobby disappeared with a crack while Winky slowly left the room. She still didn't seem to feel she could disapparate like Dobby could, but at least she was moving about the house.

Harry quickly dressed and made his way to the kitchen. On the table was a large birthday cake.

"Happy Birthday, Harry Potter, Sir!" Dobby shouted. "Dobby made this cake with some help from Winky. It is for you, sir!" Dobby looked proud.

Harry looked at the cake. It was several layers high and leaned only slightly to the left. Harry then looked at the two house elves. "Thank you. You didn't have to do this, but I'm glad you did. Thank you very much, both of you." Dobby couldn't hold back any longer and threw himself at Harry's middle. Harry gave him a pat on the back as Dobby hugged his waist and looked over at Winky. After Dobby let go, Harry moved to Winky and kneeled in front of her. He put a hand on her shoulder and looked straight into her large eyes. "Thank you, Winky. That was very thoughtful of you."

Winky's bat-like ears pricked up a little and she got a small smile on her face. Harry felt like he had just won a race. He gave her a huge grin and got back up. "I think we should try this. What do you say?"

"Yes, yes, Harry Potter." Dobby was jumping up and down. Harry went and got a knife to cut the cake and cut three pieces. He put them on three separate plates.

The three were just starting on their cake, when Remus walked in. He was looking very haggard and pale. He saw the cake; Dobby eating his piece with it already mussed all over his face; Winky eating her piece very daintily; and Harry just grinning at the two and absently eating his piece.

"What is this?"

"Dobby and Winky made me a birthday cake. Would you like some?" Harry grinned at Remus.

"For breakfast? How could I refuse?" Remus walked over and got himself a plate and a piece of cake.

Harry finished off his piece. "This is a very good cake, Dobby, Winky."

Remus said, "There'll be a surprise for you later today. Dumbledore's cleared your friends for a visit. They should be here in about two hours."

"That'll be great. It will be excellent to see them again." Harry suspected Remus knew something about the trunk because he just gave him that look that told him that he knew somehow Harry was keeping in contact with his friends. Harry and Remus spent the rest of their time alone playing a game of wizard chess.

* * *

Late in the morning the doorbell rang and Mrs. Black's portrait started screeching.

Harry and Remus ran to the entrance hall. Remus started struggling with the moth-eaten curtains that could cover Mrs. Black's portrait while Harry answered the door. As the Weasley's came in carrying various packages and bags, all that could be heard was Mrs. Black's voice echoing through the house.

"_Mudbloods, filthy half-breeds, blood traitors, children of filth…" _She spotted Harry_. "Insolent whelp, cheeky pup, half-blooded freak…"_

Harry was enveloped in a Mrs. Weasley hug as Remus finally closed the curtains over the portrait and started stunning the other portraits that woke from Mrs. Blacks screeches. They made their way to the kitchen. Neville looked shell-shocked; Luna didn't seem phased at all. Everyone quietly filed into the kitchen.

Harry smirked at Neville. "Welcome to my home."

"Ron told me a bit about this place after Professor Dumbledore visited, but I didn't think it would be quite so…so…"

"Dark? Snake-loving? Run down? Depressing?" Harry could think of quite a few adjectives to describe this place.

"Ah…yeah. I see now why you'd like to redecorate a bit."

Ginny came over. "What do you do with Mrs. Black when Professor Lupin isn't here?"

"She doesn't wake up then. There's only me and the house elves in the house then. There isn't any noise to wake her up. One time I woke her up on purpose, just to see what would happen. She screamed for three hours before her voice started to give out. Then she just glared at me. She didn't like it when I just laughed at her. I get some of my own insults now, not just lumped in with the general population anymore."

Luna strolled by. "Hello, Harry. Happy Birthday."

"Yeah, Happy Birthday, mate!" Ron came up and gave Harry a slap on the back. Hermione and Ginny gave him birthday greetings as well.

Mrs. Weasley bustled over to them. "Why don't you kids go have a chat and catch up while I get some lunch on the table?"

The teenagers walked into the drawing room and made themselves comfortable. Harry started the conversation rolling with a smirk. "So what did you guys do since yesterday morning?"

"We went to Diagon Alley. It was brilliant. You should see Fred and George's shop! They're doing a bit of all right for themselves. They send their wishes. They wanted to come today, but needed to stay at the shop. I think even Mum was impressed with how well they seem to be doing." Ron seemed quite proud of his prankster brothers success.

Neville seemed to be the next to want to speak. He pulled a wand out and held it close for Harry to see. "Harry, look at my new wand! It's oak and very inflexible with a hair from the tail of a male unicorn core. It feels so different from my father's wand, I can't wait until we can go…" His eyes shifted around and he continued in a low voice, "…you know where, so I can try it out!" His voice returned to normal volume. "Mr. Ollivander said he remembered that my father's wand was a maple, very swishy with a phoenix feather core. He said that wasn't a good fit for me at all. He said most phoenix feather wand cores worked well for quite powerful wizards with a lot of raw power, but mine is able to bring out more of a finessed power. Much better for details."

Hermione looked at Harry. He knew she was thinking about the statement she had made to Harry earlier of how he was a powerful wizard. She knew he had a phoenix feather in his wand.

The others chatted a bit. Professor Dumbledore had told them that the OWL results were delayed because of some evaluation questions that had come up. Hermione was anxiously awaiting her results. Harry felt he could wait quite a lot longer for his.

The door opened and a tiny creature silently crept into the room. Winky, with her large eyes, tomato nose and bat-like ears made her way to a corner where she could watch Harry and slowly slid to sit on the floor.

Hermione looked from Winky's solemn look and filthy dress to Harry with tears in her eyes.

Harry got up and made his way to the corner Winky sat in. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, Winky. Have you met my friends? Do you remember Ron and Hermione from school? And over here we have Neville, Luna and Ginny." Winky reluctantly took her gaze from Harry and slowly looked to the others and briefly nodded to them before returning her gaze to Harry. The others in the room exchanged concerned gazes.

Hermione approached. "Winky, you're looking better than last week. How are you feeling?"

Winky didn't respond to Hermione. She kept her gaze unblinklingly on Harry.

Harry smiled reassuringly at Winky and answered Hermione. "Winky is doing a bit better, I think. She even talked a bit with me and Dobby and she moves around the house now."

Hermione looked at Harry. "Did you tell her…?"

"Dobby and I talked with her about becoming my house elf. If we can release the old elf magic from the house, she will consider it. I can't convince her that I wouldn't blame her for not being able to clean this house and rid it of the stuff I don't like. She thinks that I would consider her a bad house elf for not being able to do her duty."

"So it all rests on tomorrow night?" Hermione looked like she felt bad for Harry having this extra pressure put on him.

Neville looked slightly confused. "Hermione, you'd be ok with Harry taking a house elf? What happened to spew?"

Hermione got an indignant look on her face. "It's not _spew_, it's S.P.E.W.! The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare! After seeing how serious it was with Winky, I've decided freeing all the house elves cold turkey may not be the way to go. I think I was pushing too hard. Apparently not all elves are ready for the concept of freedom. Harry had the idea of modifying the enslavement spell to give the elves the choice of slavery or freedom. I was able to research the spell and create a modification that would forever allow the house elf or any of their children to choose freedom if that is what they wanted at any time. I know it still keeps them as a slave if that is their choice, but at least it's a start and if an abusive situation would develop, the elf can get away. If this works, I hope to start promoting it and researching a way for current owners to give their elves the same type of choice. Eventually the elves may become more used to it and then more aggressive measures can be taken. So I've decided to start with the owners rather than the house elves themselves."

Ron got a grin on his face. "So, no more knitting hats and trying to trick them?"

Hermione got an embarrassed look on her face. "No. No more trying to trick them."

Ron decided enough conversation. "Someone want to play a game of chess?"

Hermione decided she would play Ron, but on a muggle set Harry had found in Grimmauld Place. Ginny and Luna were having their own conversation across the room.

Harry turned to Neville. "Hey, Nev. You want to go try out your…ah…gift?"

Neville's face lit up. "Sure! That's right. You can get in there, too."

Harry spoke aloud. "Dobby?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir! What can Dobby be doing for sirs?"

"Dobby, could you listen for anyone who wants to find us? Neville and I are going to go practice some." Harry turned towards Winky. "Do you want to come with us?" Winky slowly shook her head. Harry remembered she probably wouldn't like the ladder as she was afraid of heights. He smiled gently at her. "That's fine. Dobby could you keep Winky company while we go?"

"Dobby would be very happy to, Harry Potter. Your wheezymum is being very bossy-like in Dobby's kitchen. Dobby would be happy to stay out here with Winky. Dobby can also listen for Harry Potter from here."

Harry smiled at Dobby's description of Mrs. Weasley as well as Dobby's slight indignation of her taking over his kitchen. Harry knew Dobby didn't like being in the kitchen much, so it must just be a point of pride.

"You'll have to be patient with her, Dobby. Her working in the kitchen for my birthday lunch is part of her gift to me."

Dobby gave Harry a toothy grin. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir."

* * *

Harry took Neville to his room and walked to the trunk. In the corner of his eye he thought he saw movement. He looked over, but saw nothing. Just his bed, Ron's empty bed across the way and the empty ornate picture frame between the two. Harry shrugged and turned to the trunk.

"Right this way, Nev." Harry opened the lid and started to descend.

When Neville started his descent he looked up. "Wow, Harry. I can see two doors in the ceiling, now. Not just one."

Harry just chuckled and got out the Spellseye. "Let's see what you can do."

They spent an enjoyable half hour in the trunk testing different things with Neville's wand before Dobby came to get them. Neville spent a while with the Spellseye and then Harry would send a few of the new short jinxes and hexes he had learned towards Neville while he would block them. Neville was ecstatic with how his new wand performed.

"This is so easy. It just feels so much better. As much as I liked having my father's wand, I think I almost prefer it broken." Neville stopped abruptly and his face dropped. "That's an awful thing to say, isn't it?"

Harry put his hand on Neville's shoulder. "I don't think so. Not using your father's wand every day doesn't mean you love him any less. You are your own person with your own strengths. I think your parents would want you to be able to use tools that would help you show those strengths the best, don't you?"

Neville tilted his head, then slowly smiled. "Yeah. But I'm not sure about my Gran, though."

Harry fidgeted a bit. "I'm not sure my godfather always saw me as Harry, either. It's been pointed out that he may have sometimes confused me with my father. Wanting me to _be_ my father."

Neville looked at Harry with a small bit of shocked surprise in his eyes. "We really are alike, aren't we?"

Harry gave a half smile. "Yeah, Neville. I really think we are."

* * *

The lunch tasted wonderful. Mrs. Weasley made several of Harry's favorite foods. Afterwards a large cake was brought out. Mrs. Weasley lit several candles and stepped back.

Harry had heard about this. He'd just never done it before. He closed his eyes and wished as hard as he could that tomorrow night's spell would be a success. There was so much riding on it now.

He opened his eyes again and took a deep breath. Harry blew out all the candles. There was a cheer in the room. Luna had a thoughtful look on her face.

Everyone started chatting while Mrs. Weasley cut pieces of cake. Luna came over to Harry and softly said, "You've never done that before. Have you?"

Harry blushed faintly. "You could tell? My cousin, Dudley, got the parties and he'd show off the gifts later, but for the party itself I would be kept busy…elsewhere." Harry's eyes looked off to the distant past. He remembered many parties being listened to from his cupboard.

Harry shook off the memories and smiled at Luna. "At least now I know what it's like."

The party slowly made it's way into the drawing room where the pile of presents had accumulated.

Harry started to open them. Fred and George sent him a sampler box of their latest wheezes. Hagrid had sent him a crossbow and some arrows along with a box of rock cakes. Luna gave him a necklace with white owl feathers attached to it. She said it should help him with his adoption process. Remus gave him a watch with an alarm that could be set. It was preset for just under an hours time. Remus gave him a small nod when Harry glanced at him with a silent question in his eyes. Harry smiled gratefully. His friends gave him three books; two defensive books, and an encyclopedia of different animals and their anatomy. Mrs. Weasley gave Harry several mince pies and other food. Dobby gave him a pair of socks; one with a wizard on it and the other with a house elf on it. Each had happy looks on their faces. Dobby's face beamed as Harry thanked him and put the socks on. Winky just watched silently.

Everyone sat enjoying themselves for another hour until Mrs. Weasley said it was time to go. After they left, Remus left Harry to take a nap. He was looking quite haggard again. Harry set his watch and sat on the roof for an hour looking at his new books.

* * *

Harry was awake early Thursday morning. He had turned in early the previous night because he knew it would be a late night tonight. He went down into the trunk.

By the time his friends had come down Harry had already spent an hour on wandless magic practice with the belt set at a very high level. They silently got to work on their morning routines. Each of the others could almost feel the pressure Harry was putting on himself. At mid-morning they took a break.

Harry lifted his eyes to his friends and hesitantly asked, "Do you think you could all come tonight? Remus will be locked in his room and even without the locks and wards he's been taking the Wolfsbane potion so you don't have to worry about him."

Ginny smiled at him. "Of course we'll be there, Harry. We've even arranged it for Luna to stay the night so she can be there, too."

Harry smiled and they could all see the relief plain on his face. He visibly relaxed. The rest of the morning flew by.

After they left at noon, Harry thought it would be wise to try to take a nap to rest up a bit more. Although he tried, he could not get his mind to settle. He went back to the trunk and tried taking a bath but that couldn't get his mind off of the night to come, either. Giving up on the idea, Harry started practicing some more. Before Harry left for the evening meal, Gideon and Fabian offered their last bit of advice and encouragement.

"Remember, Harry, your feelings can amplify your power."

"Your friends can help you, too. Let them."

"You'll do fine."

"We believe you can do it."

* * *

Remus kept to his room since lunch and Harry ate with Dobby and Winky. It was a pretty quiet meal as each thought of what was going to happen tonight.

Harry went to the roof, avoiding looking at the shrunken elf heads, with one of his new books and tried to read for an hour. But when he came back down an hour later he realized he had no clue what he had been reading about.

He thought of the spell he would be performing in a short while. The translation was roughly "Liberate and free from the master the body, spirit and magic belonging to this household." He was extremely nervous and started pacing.

At 8 pm darkness had fallen outside and the moon was rising. Shortly before 9 pm he opened his trunk and waited for his friends. They all came down the ladder at 9 pm and gave him encouraging pats or hugs. They all climbed up Harry's ladder and made their way to the hallway with the shrunken elf heads. Dobby and Winky were already there.

Harry stepped forward. "Well, here it goes." He closed his eyes and tried to feel the power in his chest. He wasn't sure if it was the power or just his stomach feeling sick. He started the spell. "Libero vaco corpus animus vires familiaris!" Harry threw his hand towards the elf heads. They glowed with a blue light for a moment and then the blue light vanished and the heads were still there.

Harry slumped with defeat. Why did he ever think he had the power to do this spell. He had read a bit more about house elves and what Sirius' ancestor had done by binding them to the house forever. How had he ever thought that a 16 year old boy could try to break that binding. _Wandlessly_ no less! Harry felt he let everybody down.

He felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked to his left and saw Ron. Hermione came forward, too, then Ginny, Neville, and Luna all came forward and formed a half circle around him, each touching his arm, shoulder or back. Dobby stepped forward and touched his waist. Then, finally, Winky came forward and took his left hand. Harry looked at them all. Each had belief in their eyes and a trust that he could do this.

Ron squeezed his shoulder. Harry turned to him. "Do it, Harry."

And then it hit him – he understood.

His friends believed he could do this. Harry felt a squeeze of his hand. Winky _needed_ him to do this. This wasn't a choice. Age didn't matter. This needed to be done. Harry looked at the shrunken heads and said in a low, intense voice, _"Libero vaco corpus animus vires familiaris!"_

A blinding white/blue light lit the whole wall. Everyone stepped back and lifted arms to shield their eyes. A whirling wind seemed to fill the house and then leave with a whoosh like a vacuum. When the light faded, the shrunken heads were gone.

A huge cheer went up. Harry was attacked from all sides. Everyone was pounding his back with congratulations. Dobby was jumping up and down shouting, "Harry Potter did it! Harry Potter did it! I's told you Harry Potter was a great wizard!"

Harry made his way out of the pile of his friends who were all hugging each other now. The girls were crying. Harry looked for Winky. She had fallen to the floor where she had been standing and just sat there and sobbed. "Winky? What's wrong?"

"Winky is sorry she doubted Harry Potter. Winky hoped, and hoped, but wasn't sure. But now Winky knows that she does not deserve to work for so great a wizard as Harry Potter. Winky should just go away. Harry Potter deserves a proper house elf, not one that has been disgraced."

Harry knelt down by the heartbroken elf and put an arm around her shoulders. "Winky, I want you. You saw what happened. I couldn't do the spell by myself. I needed you and my other friends to succeed. I couldn't have done it without _you_!"

"Sir…wants…Winky?"

"Yes. I want you, Winky."

Winky looked deep into Harry's eyes with her enormous ones. Slowly she stood up and curtsied deeply to Harry. "Then Winky will be your house elf."

Harry felt relieved. He was afraid that Winky was going to refuse him and all this would have been for nothing. He smiled at Winky. His friends had gathered around. They had all calmed down and heard Harry's and Winky's conversation. Dobby started jumping up and down again clapping his hands.

"Winky is ready, sir. Whenever master chooses to begin the spell." She knelt on the ground in front of Harry.

Harry felt a little uncomfortable with the 'master' and her kneeling in front of him. Reminded him a bit too much of Voldemort. He looked to Hermione for reassurance. She was biting her lip and her brow was furrowed with concern, but she gave a nod to Harry.

"Volo tu et progenies servio ego et familia quod si vis." Harry intoned the revised enslavement with a choice of freedom spell. He held his hand out to Winky, palm down. Winky kept her head bowed but lifted her hand up to meet Harry's, palm up.

"Inservio." she responded. A green light surrounded Harry and Winky. When the light faded, Winky's clothing had changed. She had on a pretty, white dress with an emerald green 'P' insignia on the front with a jagged lightning-bolt forming the straight side of the letter. She stood up and looked at it. Dobby's eyes got huge.

"Winky. Look at you!" He stared at Winky as if he'd never seen her before.

Hermione leaned over to Harry. Her eyes were sparkling. "Winky has an actual dress…Harry I'm proud of you."

Harry smiled. "So you think it worked?"

"I'm sure it worked." Hermione beamed at Harry. "If it hadn't, you wouldn't have seen any change."

Dobby was still staring at Winky and she seemed to be blushing shyly. She lifted her eyes to Harry. Her eyes started to water and Harry could see the joy in them. "Master!" and she threw herself on the ground and started to kiss Harry's feet.

Harry stepped back and knelt down beside Winky. "Winky? You don't have to kiss my feet." Her head lifted and she looked at him. "Could I also ask you a favor?"

"Anything, Master." Winky was looking at him with adoration.

"Could you call me Harry? Or Harry Potter, like before? I really don't like the title 'master'. Reminds me a bit too much of Lord Voldemort. He likes people using that title for him."

Winky had been looking a little uncomfortable with the beginning of the request, but with the explanation she seemed to accept it. "Of course, Harry Potter, sir. Winky will do alls you ask. If I should fail you, Winky will punish herself most severely."

Harry got a panicked look on his face. "No. No punishments. How about if you feel that you need a punishment for some reason, you come talk to me about it and we'll work something out. I don't want you hurting yourself."

Winky had a confused look on her face again. But then it cleared as she remembered that Harry had told her he would be a strange master. "It shall be as you say, Harry Potter, sir. What would you like Winky to do first, Harry Potter, sir?"

Harry looked around at his friends. "Could you get us all some pumpkin juice?"

Winky took a deep breath and looked at her fingers. Harry could tell she was shaking, slightly. He thought she might be nervous. She hadn't been able to use her magic for almost a month. Harry leaned in low beside her and softly said, "If your magic doesn't work, I still want you to stay with me." Winky looked up at him and gave him a huge smile and snapped her fingers.

"Drinks is in the drawing room, sir." Winky said. She seemed quite relieved when they entered the drawing room and glasses filled with pumpkin juice were, indeed, on a table.

"Get something for yourself and Dobby and join us."

With more confidence, Winky snapped her fingers again and two small glasses of water also appeared on the tray. Together they all found places to sit and finally Harry felt he could relax with his friends.

* * *

1 Quote from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. 


	5. Reckless

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 5 Reckless

Harry woke the next morning to the sound of "Harry James Potter, Where Are You And What Have You Done!" echoing from the hall.

It took Harry a moment for his memory to return. The spell. His friends. Winky and Dobby. Harry leaned back into his pillow and smiled. It worked!

Remus' voice could be heard again from the hall. He was muttering to himself. Harry grew a little concerned. He knew Remus didn't usually emerge from his room at all the day following a full moon. He needed the day for recovery.

Harry got out of bed and left his room, still in his pajamas. He followed the sound of Remus voice. He had made his way downstairs. "Remus? Are you all right?"

"Harry? What have you done?" Remus was leaning against the wall. He looked terrible.

"Remus, maybe you should rest. Why don't I help you to a chair somewhere?" Harry helped Remus to a chair in the drawing room. Remus sat heavily then pulled Harry down so he was kneeling by the chair.

"What have you done, Harry?"

Harry tried to be evasive. "Why? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Look around! Everything's changed!"

Harry did finally start to look at his surroundings. The room still had peeling wallpaper and snake ornamentation, but it didn't have that dank smell or depressing feel to it anymore. Harry smiled with satisfaction. "Looks better, doesn't it. Dobby and Winky must have been busy this morning."

Remus' eyes opened wide. He opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment there was a loud crack in the room. Winky appeared there looking very dignified.

"It is good that sirs are up. Would sirs like breakfast?"

Harry looked at Remus. His eyes had grown even larger when he saw Winky. "Remus? Do you think you could eat something?" Remus slowly nodded. Harry turned to Winky. "Winky, do you think you could set something up for us in here?"

Winky smiled at them and nodded. Thought for a moment then snapped her fingers. A small table appeared in front of Remus' chair along with a chair opposite of where Remus sat. She smiled with confidence and snapped her fingers again. The table filled with food. It all looked and smelled delicious.

Harry took a seat opposite Remus and slowly they started to eat. Finally Remus started to talk.

"This is like a dream. How can so much have changed in one night? Last night, I could have sworn I could smell your friends here. Now I knew that was impossible and figured it must still have been lingering from when they were here earlier in the day even though the smell was much too strong for that. Then all of a sudden there was some strong magic at work and a rushing wind blowing through my room and I could hear your friends shouting. Then I could hear some loud crying." Remus paused. "Never had I wanted to be able to leave my room so badly to see if you were ok. But I couldn't. Then this morning, things feel different in this house and Winky is better. Please, Harry, tell me what happened."

Harry looked down at his plate trying to gather his thoughts. He knew he owed a lot to Remus and that Remus probably already suspected over half of it anyway.

"When I first got here with Dobby, he explained what happens when a house elf is not allowed to die in their proper way. Their magic gets tied to the house in a way their masters want and the elf spirit is forever trapped. That's why nothing was able to be changed. Dobby then told me of the spell that would release the elves and their magic. It had to be done by a current master of the house."

Remus broke in. "I'm a current master, why didn't you tell me about this spell?"

Harry looked at him apologetically. "It had to be done during the full moon."

Remus lifted his head with sharp understanding on his features.

Harry continued. "Anyway, Professor Dumbledore said Winky was dying. I talked to Winky about becoming my house elf." Remus nodded. Harry had told him this part before. "She refused unless the house could be freed. She was afraid I would think her a bad house elf if she couldn't properly clean this house..." Harry frowned, wishing he could have convinced Winky that it wouldn't have mattered.

"So last night…?" Remus prompted.

"So last night I did the spell. My friends all came over to support me." Harry finished.

"Wait a minute. I think you may have skipped several steps here. First, how did you do the spell and not get a notice from the Ministry? Second, how did your friends get here?"

Harry gave a half grin. "To answer the first question, I did it wandlessly. For the second…remember the trunk Ron gave me?" Remus nodded. "It's a Dimensional Trunk. Ron and Ginny were given them when their mother inherited them from their grandmother. They originally belonged to Gideon and Fabian Prewett. They each have access to a room. Ron gave his to me. Ginny has the other one in her room. We've all been meeting every morning since I got it."

"All right. The trunk part doesn't surprise me too much. I knew something was up with that. But _wandlessly_?" Remus was looking shocked.

Harry smirked and focused on bringing a piece of toast towards him. He could do this spell both wandlessly and silently. The toast floated over to Harry. Remus' jaw dropped.

Harry decided to tease Remus a bit. "We thought if we could learn Wordless and Wandless magic, it could help us with our pranks."

Remus' eyes grew even larger. "I've heard those words before…" A light of recognition lit in his eyes. He turned to Harry and said accusingly, "You got a book on animal anatomy for your birthday!"

Harry laughed. "You've got to admit that with my history, it wouldn't hurt to have a few things up my sleeve."

Remus pushed his plate away and slumped back into his chair. "But how could you have done all this by yourselves?"

"Well, it wasn't totally by ourselves. I'll have to show you. Winky?" Harry was concerned for Remus. He didn't look like he had any energy left.

Winky appeared instantly. "Yes, Harry Potter, sir. What can Winky be doing for sir?"

"I was wondering if you would you be able to bring Remus into the trunk? I thought you might be ok since you wouldn't have to go down the ladder. Is that right?" Winky looked at Harry with surprise. "If it would bother you I could ask Dobby."

Winky smiled a toothy smile at Harry. She had not realized that Harry remembered her fear of heights and understood why she never followed him into the trunk when she had lost her magic. "Winky can easily do it now, sir. It will be no problem." She took Remus' hand and with a crack they disappeared.

Harry got up and went to his room and went down the trunk. Remus was sitting in one of the armchairs just staring around. Harry walked over, waved his wand and started a fire illusion then sat in the other chair. Harry thanked Winky and she popped away.

"This is incredible. Apparently you can use magic down here?"

"Yes. Between things found in my father's box and Gideon's and Fabian's things down here, we've been keeping ourselves busy this summer."

"Did someone call?" A voice came from near the ladders.

Remus jumped up in surprise. "Gideon Prewett?"

"In the flesh-toned paint, so to speak. Hate to say it, but you look like crap, Remus."

Remus looked uncomfortable. Harry remembered that Gideon and Fabian hadn't known he was a werewolf.

"Oh give it a rest." An elbow pushed into Gideon's side where he was leaning against the frame. Gideon jumped to the side and Fabian walked into the frame. "Harry explained all that. What do you expect after a full moon? Hey, Remus. Good to see you again."

"Fabian. So you two have been helping Harry? You two always were a force to be reckoned with."

Gideon laughed. "Yes. He's quite a good student, I must say, as you probably know. Harry told us you were his professor one year."

Remus smiled and relaxed. "Yes. He's a very good student."

Harry floated the two chairs over to the portrait. "Remus, sit down before you fall down." Harry gently pushed him into a chair.

The two portraits smiled at each other as they saw the care the young boy had for his father's old friend. Gideon decided to cut to the chase.

"So, Harry, my boy, tell us about your success last night. Were you able to convince the house elf?"

Harry's face broke into a smile. "You were right. My friends made all the difference. At first I tried the spell, just as any normal spell and it didn't work. Then my friends all gathered around me and even Winky and Dobby gave me encouragement. I realized that it was more than a spell to be able to redecorate the house and free the spirits of some elves I didn't know and one I didn't even like; it needed to be done if Winky was to survive. Once I realized that they believed I could do it and it needed to be done, I did it." Harry still seemed a bit surprised that it actually worked.

"I knew you could." Gideon looked on with a quiet pride.

Harry looked back at Remus. He wasn't looking too good. "Do you have any more questions you want answered now, or do you want to rest for a while?"

"I think any more questions can wait. Now that I know you're all right I think I will go back and rest a while." Remus made to get up but Harry pushed him back.

"Winky can take you. Winky?" Harry called for his house elf.

The small house elf popped in. "Winky be taking your Remy back to drawing room?"

"Could you just take him straight to his room, please?"

"Right away, Harry Potter, sir!" Winky took hold of Remus' arm and popped them away.

* * *

Harry spent the morning in the trunk. When his friends joined him, he confirmed to them that Winky's magic was back to full power and told about his conversation with Remus. Hermione would be going back to her home in two days and Neville had gotten a letter from his Gran that his Great Uncle Algie had recovered and she would be returning on Monday. Luna's trip to Sweden would be starting on the following Wednesday. Harry was beginning to feel that everyone but him had things to do and places to go. At least he would still have Ron and Ginny.

After they left at lunch, Harry spent time going back to practicing Wordless magic and short hexes and jinxes from the book he had read earlier. He tried them both with a wand and without a wand. Without a wand proved rather interesting. Where the jinx 'Vir' would shoot slime from the end of his wand, when he tried it wandless, it would come from the palm of his hand. It was a bit messy, but he actually shot a larger quantity wandlessly than with the wand. Results seemed to vary from hex to hex. Harry figured there probably was a correlation on how focused he was. He didn't have to try to focus as hard with a wand as he did without, but when it worked well without, it worked very well.

* * *

Saturday morning dawned bright. This was Hermione's last day in the trunk as tomorrow she would be returning home. Her parents were planning to take her on a short trip to Greece for two weeks. For the time not traveling, she had borrowed several books from Harry to study up on how to adapt current house elf enslavements. Neville promised he'd talk to his Gran about offering it to their elves if she could get it completed.

Harry was quite impressed with that offer. He'd seen Neville's Gran. She was quite the intimidating lady. Harry reminded his friends that they should be ok practicing wandless magic on their own at home.

Harry was light years ahead of his friends on that subject, since he had practiced at least five times as much as they had and had an urgent need to learn. The most Neville could do (who was the next best user of wandless magic), were some first year spells, such as the levitation spell and he had to use his voice.

At mid-morning, Dobby popped down into the trunk to tell Harry that he was wanted up above.

Harry scrambled out of the trunk and made his way to the entry hall. Apparently there was going to be an Order meeting because the front hall was filling with people. Remus was letting people in and they silently made their way across the hall. Snores were heard behind the curtains of Mrs. Black's portrait. Remus noticed Harry and made his way over to him.

"Harry," he said in a whisper. "Headmaster Dumbledore would like to have a word with you for a moment."

At that moment, Tonks moved from the door and as was her custom, tripped over the troll leg umbrella stand. The resulting crash woke up Mrs. Black. Her curtains flew open and she glared at the people in the hall. Snape, standing nearby, rolled his eyes.

"_Filthy blood traitors! How dare you defile my father's house! Mutants…mudblood scum…" _She caught sight of Harry. "_Half-blood freak! Despoiler of the house of my fathers…How dare you break our traditions! You worthless nobody…You will pay for your interference!"_

Winky popped in front of the portrait. She was shaking with anger. She pointed a long finger at the painting. "You shall not speak so to Harry Potter. You shall not. Master is a Great Wizard. You shall go!" With a loud bang, Mrs. Black's portrait fell to the floor. She looked frozen in shock.

Every eye in the hall turned to look at Harry. Snape sneered, although looking rather pale. "Another member of your fan club, Potter? You're recruiting house elves now?"

Winky suddenly gasped and started pulling on her ears, her big eyes swelling with tears. Harry ignored Snape and the others and made his way to the small house elf. He drew her to a quiet corner. "Winky, what's the matter?"

"Winky called you…" she choked on the word and said in a whisper, "_Master_. Winky was a bad house elf. You do not want to be called that. Winky needs punishing." Huge tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Winky, you are not a bad house elf. Remember, I asked that as a favor. It was not a command. I know that it is hard for you to not use that title. It's ok if you slip sometimes. I'm very proud you've remembered as often as you do. You are a _very_ good house elf. I'm glad you removed that portrait. Your magic is very strong. We weren't able to."

"Harry Potter could have if Sir had tried. Winky has seen Sir do much harder things." Winky's eyes had a pride in them on Harry's behalf.

"Yes…well…I'm glad you think so. I want to thank you for doing it for us, though."

Harry tried to straighten up and about jumped out of his skin when he realized Professor Dumbledore was standing right behind him.

"Harry, could I have a word?"

"Of course, sir."

Winky gave a hug around Harry's waist. Tonks looked over at Harry. She had been examining Mrs. Black's portrait. "Harry, what are going to do with her?"

"Hey, she's your aunt. You want her?" Tonks quickly shook her head no. Harry looked over to Remus. "Well, then, could we put her in the attic for now? Are there more family portraits somewhere we can store her with?"

Remus smiled at Harry. "I think that's a good idea. Winky? Would you be able to take her to the attic for us?" Winky turned a bright smile towards Remus and took the painting and popped away.

"Harry?" Professor Dumbledore motioned with his hand to a side room.

"Yes, Professor." Harry entered the room ahead of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore closed the door and motioned for Harry to take a seat. There were a couple of chairs as this was a small room visitors were to wait in while family members were notified of their visitors.

"So, Harry. Is there anything you wish to tell me?" Professor Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half moon glasses.

Harry sighed. He hated it when he asked that question. Obviously Dumbledore knew some of what was going on, but how much? "What would you like to know, Professor?"

"Remus told me this morning of your escapade the other night and I see Winky has completely recovered her magic. What can you tell me about that?" The Professors eyes were twinkling brightly.

Harry remembered that Dumbledore had alluded to Harry 'seeing' his friends before so he started with the trunk. He explained how his friends and Gideon and Fabian helped him while at his relatives and then how Dobby explained why the house couldn't be changed. He then told how Winky wouldn't agree to become his house elf unless the house could be freed and how it then became a priority to learn to wandlessly do the spell needed. He left out the parts about his father's journal and the Wordless magic.

Harry could tell that not much of his story was new to the Professor. He believed that Dumbledore mostly wanted to see how much Harry was willing to admit of what he had been up to. It irritated Harry that Dumbledore would 'test' him this way.

When he finished, Dumbledore asked for a demonstration of Harry's Wandless talent. Harry looked around the room and saw a vase sitting on a table. He focused on the vase and called, "Accio". The vase flew to his open hand. Harry then banished it back to the table without breaking it. Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands looking very pleased.

"Bravo, Harry! Very well done! I shall see if there are some books that may help you with this in my library. A very good talent to have." Harry smiled. Even at his age, he still had to admit he liked hearing praise for something he did, especially from Dumbledore. Maybe because he never had praise when he was young. He had such mixed feelings concerning his Headmaster. It seemed no one could lift him up or irritate him so quickly.

"On to the next subject. Yesterday OWL results were released. I took the liberty of commandeering yours and those of your friends. I have them here now. If you wouldn't mind, could you deliver them to your friends?"

"Of course I will, Professor." There it was again. Dumbledore knew yesterday, before Remus spoke to him about him seeing his friends. Dumbledore handed Harry four letters sealed with a Ministry seal. Harry put them in his pocket for now.

"Is there anything else you wish to talk about while we have the chance?" the Headmaster queried.

"Er…yes, sir. I would like to start doing a bit of redecorating. Remus got a bunch of mail order catalogs for me but he told me to wait until we could get your advice on where to have them shipped to."

"Ah, yes. He did mention that to me. I have set up a drop area at the London Owl Post Office. Anything you order can be shipped to Area 52 and you could have one of your elf friends finish transporting the items here for you. I believe that should answer the problem nicely. If that is all, I do believe I have some people waiting for me as do you." Dumbledore winked at him and he left the room.

* * *

Harry walked slowly up to his room. He had many things running through his mind. He entered his room and sat on his bed. How did Dumbledore know what was going on here? There must be a way to figure it out. Harry took the letters out of his pocket. They were a little crumpled now. Hermione would probably have a fit. He tried to iron hers flat again. He heard a snigger coming from the empty portrait on the wall. Harry froze.

Phineas Nigellus. Of course. He'd seen Harry going in and out of the trunk. He'd seen his friends coming out of it. He also could roam the house in other portraits. Who knows what else he could have seen.

Harry felt the urge to confront him, but thought better of it. Better to just be aware of how the information is getting to Dumbledore than to force Dumbledore to find a new way to get his information. Harry knew that he would if his old way was found out. Just as Harry always had found new ways of listening to the news the previous summer. Much better to be aware of where the 'bug' was than have to keep an eye out for another.

Harry got up and went into the trunk. His friends were all there, curious as to what had happened. Harry told them the news of how Winky blasted Mrs. Black off the wall and how Dumbledore knew about the trunk and what Harry had done. They were all surprised. Then Harry told them of his suspicions of Phineas' portrait. Hermione nodded her head and had an 'of course!' look on her face. Harry finally pulled out the OWL results.

Hermione exploded. "You've had those all this time! Why didn't you give those to us first thing? I can't believe you! Oh, I wonder how I did?" She grabbed at her letter and stared at it.

Harry shook his head and handed Ron and Neville theirs. Ron looked sick. Neville looked nervous. Harry imagined he looked a bit of a combination of the two.

Hermione kept playing with the seal, flicking at it with a fingernail but not opening it. She looked up at the boys. "Should we open them together or one at a time?"

The boys just looked at each other. Ginny decided for them. "Together. One, two, three."

Each of the four opened their scroll. Harry glanced through the first sheet. It basically explained the importance of these grades and other stuff Harry didn't care about. He moved on to the second sheet.

The second sheet had his results. He received Outstandings in Care of Magical Creatures and Defense against the Dark Arts; Exceeds Expectations in Charms and Transfiguration; Acceptable in Herbology and Potions; Poor in Astronomy and Divination and Dreadful in History of Magic. Not bad. Then it hit him. He needed an Outstanding in Potions to take it at NEWT level.

He couldn't become an Auror.

Harry looked to his friends. Hermione and Ron were looking at their grades with disappointment, but Neville seemed quite pleased.

"What'd you get, Neville?" Harry asked.

"Outstandings in Herbology and DADA, Exceeds Expectations in Charms and History of Magic."

"An Exceeds Expectation in History of Magic? How could anyone get an Exceeds Expectation in History of Magic?" Ron asked disbelievingly.

Hermione gave an irritated shake of her head. "By studying, Ron! I got all Outstandings except in Astronomy and Ancient Runes. I got Exceeds Expectations in those. At least they will let us take the Astronomy OWL over again."

"No way for me. I'll take my Acceptable. I'm happy enough. I have Outstanding in DADA and Exceeds Expectation in COMC and Transfiguration. The only one I failed is Divination. No surprise there. I guess I'll need to think of another career though. Not enough NEWT classes for an Auror."

"Me, too." Harry said glumly. "I didn't get a high enough grade in Potions."

Ginny grabbed Ron's arm and started dragging him away. "You'd better go show these to Mum or she'll have a fit."

"See ya, Harry." Ron shouted as Ginny started pushing up the ladder.

"Goodbye." Harry called. The others all left. Harry wondered if that was the last he'd see of Hermione until school started. He imagined that Mrs. Weasley would want to celebrate Ron's grades. If he only failed one, that meant that he scraped Acceptables in all the others. If so, he had more OWLs than Harry did.

Harry knew he wasn't stupid. He just had a lot of things going on at the time. During Astronomy Hagrid was being attacked and…well, he was always going to fail Divination…and he guessed he was stupid about the History of Magic test. He'd fallen asleep and had that false vision.

Harry wished he had a parent to talk to; someone who could advise him on what he should do now. He supposed he could ask Remus, but he was either recovering or busy for the Order. He didn't feel right about bothering him with this stuff. Harry felt a bit depressed.

* * *

Harry was correct that he wouldn't see Hermione again, but he hadn't realized he wouldn't see Ron or Neville much, either. Sunday Harry spent alone in the trunk, exercising and practicing magic. On Monday, Ginny came down. They struck up a conversation while exercising. Ginny told him that something was going on at the Burrow. Her parents were having hushed conversations together after Hermione left and her mother had been very tense this morning, too. Ron was seeing Neville off with his Gran this morning. Harry told her that Remus left him a bunch of catalogs so they could start redecorating Grimmauld Place, but Harry had no clue on how to even get started. Ginny's eyes started to gleam.

"Is anyone there now?" she asked.

"No. Remus left early this morning on his next mission. It's just me and the house elves again."

"Do you mind if I come up and look through them? I'd be glad to offer some advice."

Harry leapt at the offer. "Let's go now. We can finish this later."

Harry led Ginny up the ladder and to the library where he had the catalogs laid out on a table. Ginny sat down.

"First you should get a list of each room you plan to start with. Write what you want to keep that's already there and what you want changed."

Harry looked at Ginny with his mouth open. "I want to change everything!"

Ginny looked at him sternly. "If you try to change everything, nothing will get changed! Start with just one area. Why don't we go to the entrance hall and start there?"

Harry agreed and they made their way to the entrance hall. Harry looked around. There were several portraits still on the walls, the snake chandelier, the old gas lamps, the troll leg umbrella stand and the curtains hanging where Mrs. Black's portrait used to hang. "A definite ixnay on the troll leg, the curtains and almost everything else."

"A definite _what_?" Ginny looked at him like he'd just spoken Greek. Of course, she might even know some ancient Greek.

"Muggles have a made up language called 'pig latin'. Remove the first letter and add it to the end of the word with an _–ay_ sound. 'Ix-nay' would be 'nix', a slang word for 'no'. In other words, I don't want to keep any of it. I guess I have another problem, though. I'm not sure how to replace it all. If I order more carpet I don't know how to lay it."

Ginny looked at him strangely. "I doubt you have to do it all yourself. Why don't you ask Dobby and Winky what they would be willing to do? Anyway, now that you've seen what needs to be done, make a list. If you're going to remove pictures, what are you going to replace them with? What color do you want the wall paper and carpet to be? What kind of doorknobs do you want instead of snakes?"

Harry was starting to look a little sick at all the questions. Ginny took pity on him. "Look, it won't be that bad. Just take it step by step. I'll help you get started." She took his hand and they returned to the library.

Ginny spent the next two hours setting up standard outlines of steps Harry should take when redecorating a room. She also wrote out what she would recommend for some overall color schemes.

Eventually Harry noticed it was already 11:30. Ginny was just finishing some suggestions for the room off the front hall when Harry pointed out the time. Ginny jumped up and started gathering the stuff together. Harry put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to face him. "I just wanted to say thanks for helping with this." Harry noticed her eyes were a warm chocolate brown.

Ginny smiled at him. "My pleasure. I like planning this type of thing." Harry stepped back and Ginny turned once more to the table.

Suddenly there was a shout. Ron's voice came floating from the hall. "Ginny? Are you here?"

Ginny startled and turned. As she turned her foot snagged on the chair and she overbalanced. Ginny screamed. Harry leapt forward to help, but it was too late and her hand caught on his shirt. Harry tried to stay upright but gravity won the battle and they both fell to the floor. Harry landed on his back and his head hit the floor. Ginny landed on his chest. Harry was seeing stars.

Running footsteps came to the library. "Ginny!" Ron saw the two of them on the floor and his face broke out in a grin. "Do I want to know what's going on?"

Ginny was frantic. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Harry!" She was trying to get up but her arm slipped and she fell on him again. Harry couldn't breathe. Ron came over to help Ginny up and Harry brought his hand to the back of his head and sat up. He winced as he felt a small lump. Ron chuckled and offered a hand to help Harry up as well.

"Ginny was helping me plan an attack for redecorating." Ginny was still fussing at him and apologizing over and over. Finally Harry looked at her and said, "Ixnay on the orriessay."

Ron suddenly looked concerned and said, "Harry, mate, are you all right. I reckon you might have hit your head a bit harder than I thought."

Ginny stopped and thought for a minute. She suddenly got a big grin on her face and gave Harry a big hug. Ron now looked at her like she was mad. Ginny started laughing. "It's okay, Ron. What did you want anyway?"

Ron's face suddenly snapped back to attention. "Mum's been going spare trying to find you. Something's come up and we've got to get back. She's starting to pack some things so I reckon we might be going somewhere." Ron turned to Harry. "From what I can tell, it might be a long trip so I don't know if we'll be able to get away to see you like we have been."

Harry felt a lump settle in his stomach. All his friends would be gone. He tried to give a smile. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." As the Weasley's left, he hoped he would be.

* * *

Time definitely passed at a different rate when he was with his friends. They'd been gone for a week now. It was rather strange. It felt more like two months. Walls had been closing in on Harry more and more as the time went by.

The redecorating was going well. Dobby and Winky were more than willing to help renovate the place. The front hall was completed. It now had new carpet in a nice rich blue. The wallpaper was a blue and cream. The troll leg umbrella stand was replaced with a small writing table which attached to the wall in deference to Tonks (there was nothing for her to trip over). The chandelier was replaced with one with glass panes with red and gold phoenixes over a blue background. The gas light fixtures were replaced with newer lamps. Most of the portraits had been replaced with landscapes or still life pictures. There was only one spot that still needed a portrait. Harry had one on special order. He had found an artist who did very good wizarding animal pictures. Harry had requested a painting of a grim, a stag, and a werewolf in a forest clearing. He was sure the artist thought he was crazy, but he had agreed to do it. The last report said it should be done in another week or so.

Since Harry hated trying to pick out decorations, he decided to ask Dobby and Winky for their opinions. Dobby quite liked the impressionist art. Harry could understand that. It was very colorful and loud, just like Dobby was. Winky, on the other hand, had quite refined taste Harry thought. After getting Winky's opinion on how to decorate the front hall, he pretty much gave her carte blanche to decorate how she wished. She was most excited to start on the kitchen, which was the next project after the front hall. Harry left her with all the catalogs to get the appliances updated and whatever cooking utensils she felt she could use. Winky was very proud that Harry was entrusting this to her and that he approved of what she suggested.

Harry decided to let Dobby design Mrs. Black's bedroom however he wanted. Dobby normally seemed quite content to follow Winky around and be her 'muscle' when she wanted something done and she seemed to like bossing him around, too. But Harry knew Dobby wanted to try decorating, too. Besides, Harry had another reason for Dobby to decorate that particular room.

Not only was it fitting that the room that had been Mrs. Blacks be decorated in a way she would absolutely hate, Harry now had a good reason to remove all the portraits from that room while it was being redecorated. Even when Dobby got his 'art' in place in the room, Harry had heard Phineas muttering that he would never step foot in such 'an atrocious excuse for flinging a pot of paint at a canvas'.

Harry had begun spending more time on the roof. He was feeling the same way he had at Privet Drive. He was caged. He just had a bigger cage this time.

Harry still practiced in the trunk, but it wasn't enough. He could feel himself beginning to snap at Gideon and Fabian when they offered advice or to Dobby and Winky. Harry didn't want to go that route again. He knew he had been out of control last year and he didn't want to be that way anymore. Now it was evening again and Harry looked up at the Weasley entrance for probably the tenth time that day.

It was strange. The door shrank when the trunk shrank apparently. Harry could tell when they were on the move because their door almost disappeared. They've been moving a lot this past week. Harry needed some air.

As he made his way past Mrs. Black's bedroom, Harry noticed the motorcycle sitting off to the side. He'd been looking at it more and more. There were interesting circular patterns on the gas tank, although he noticed that the bike didn't seem to need gas. He figured the tank was there to keep it in line with the muggle machines. There was even a leather bomber jacket hanging off a hook nearby just waiting to be worn. Surely it couldn't hurt to take it for a short spin. He'd be disillusioned. What could it hurt? Maybe it could even do some good if he could get a bit of freedom.

In the back of his mind he could hear his Hermione voice telling him not to be stupid, but Harry was getting sick of listening to that voice. He _needed_ to get out.

Harry looked back one more time then ran to the roof doors and opened them. He went back to the bike and grabbed the jacket and the handle bars of the bike and pushed it up the ramp. He felt the cold sensation of the disillusionment charm kick in and he shut the roof doors. Harry got on the motorcycle and started it and felt the deep rumble of the engine. Harry didn't know exactly how the bike worked but he remembered it seemed to feel something like when he rode his broom, but with engine noise and vibration. He decided to try to guide it as he did his broom. He leaned forward a bit and the motorcycle took off. Harry shot into the air. He felt the wind rush through his hair. He closed his eyes. Except for that one trip with Remus, Harry hadn't been flying since early the previous school year. He couldn't believe he had manage to stay away from it for so long. Flying again felt almost like a part of Harry had been returned to him that had been ripped away.

Harry looked out over London. The city lights were on and he could see cars and trucks crowding the streets. Harry slowed the pace of the bike and sat back, relaxing against the back rest. The stars were out tonight shining brightly. Harry found Sirius, the Dog Star in Canis Major. Harry actually felt close to his godfather wearing his jacket and riding his bike. He imagined that Sirius might have done this on occasion while kept at Grimmauld Place himself.

Harry changed directions a few times when something caught his eye. He flew near Big Ben and the Tower of London. He tried to stay away from any bright lights, though, even though he knew he was practically invisible he knew he could still be heard.

Suddenly Harry felt the chill feeling of the disillusionment charm ending. He looked down in shock. He and the Triumph were visible. He checked his watch. He'd been flying over an hour already. Harry quickly glanced around. He needed to head back to Grimmauld Place and quickly. That's when Harry's real panic began. He didn't know where he was and Harry didn't know London at all.

Harry landed quickly and pulled into a side alley. Why had he been so reckless? He could almost hear Hermione yelling at him for leaving Grimmauld Place in the first place. Well, now what was he going to do? He was alone in London, visible and lost. Not a good combination. "How am I going to get back?" Harry wondered aloud.

Suddenly he could feel movement in a pouch hidden near his leg he hadn't seen before. Harry leaned over and carefully reached into the pouch. There was a slim booklet there that was trying to get out. Harry lifted it out and held it in a bit of dim streetlight that made it's way into the alley.

_Triumph XLS_

_Instruction Manual_

Harry opened the manual. He could just make out a picture of the cycle and a lot of writing. He closed it and looked around. Across from the alley was a small café that was still open. It looked a bit dodgy, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Harry checked the jackets pockets. He found a few pence and decided to get a cup of coffee and look through the instruction manual.

Harry rode the bike across the street and parked it by some other motorcycles. It blended in quite well. He got off and walked into the café.

A little bell dinged as he walked in the door and a few people looked up, but not many. Most seemed to want to keep to themselves. Harry lifted the collar up on his jacket and made his way to a back booth. A waitress came over and Harry ordered a cup of coffee. In no time he had the coffee in front of him and he settled himself to start reading the manual.

Harry saw the drawing of the bike and another close up of the front petrol tank of the bike. What Harry had taken for random designs apparently were some sort of extra features.

_Triumph XLS features:_

_Gently touching appropriate circle will activate the function._

_Right side:_

_IB – (Rt green circle) Invisibility booster – For flying in muggle areas._

_S – (Rt purple circle) Silencio charm – For when you don't want to be heard._

_MR/NMN – (Rt yellow circle) Muggle Repelling charm/Notice-Me-Not charm – security feature for when parking in muggle areas or high traffic areas._

_W – (Rt red circle) Warming charm – for more comfortable flying at high altitudes or inclement weather._

_R – (Rt blue circle) Reducio charm – shrinks the bike for easy transport (further instructions on page 4)_

_Left side:_

_AP/HB – (Left green circle) Auto pilot home base – automatically locates to area where bike most often resides._

_AP 1-4 – (Left multiple circles) – Auto pilot programming for four different locations. See page 5 for further instructions._

This was exactly what he needed. Harry threw some money down on the table and left the café. As he approached the bike, he took a closer look at the designs on the front petrol tank. Sure enough, on the right side he could faintly see in the dim light of a street lamp faint letters within the different colored circles. He mounted the motorcycle and started it.

Harry thought he'd better find an out of the way place to try these out and returned to the alley across the street. He touched the green circle with 'IB' lightly imprinted in it. Across the front handle some words scrolled across the bar. '_Invisibility Booster activated' _and the circle seemed to have a slight glow to it, more than the other circles had. Harry could still see everything so he hoped it worked. He smiled and pressed the purple 'S' circle. Again words scrolled across the handle bar '_Silencio charm activated'_. Again, nothing seemed to have changed but the purple circle started to glow. Harry decided to get into the air before he tried the Auto pilot, home base circle. He would just have to trust that the bike was working properly.

Harry got above the city and pressed the AP/HB. The bike scrolled _'Returning to Home Base_' and the bike turned north. Harry closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. After about ten minutes, Harry started to recognize the neighborhood of Grimmauld Place. He landed on the roof and put down the kick stand. He dismounted to open the roof door.

As he stepped away from the bike, all bike sounds disappeared. Harry turned back to the bike and couldn't see it. Well, that answered one question. It must work like an invisibility cloak. If you were 'wearing' it, nothing changed, but on the outside the charms were active.

Harry opened the door and stepped back to where he knew the motorcycle was. Sure enough, as soon as he was touching it again, he could hear and see it. He got back on and drove it back inside Grimmauld Place. He turned it off and removed the charms by touching the glowing circles again. He stepped back and just looked at the bike. He really liked it. He decided to take the instruction manual with him back to his room to read more. He swung by the library to pick up a book that he could hide the manual in so Phineas wouldn't see it.

* * *

Harry couldn't wait to go for another ride on the motorcycle. He would again tomorrow night. Even though the bike had invisibility charms, Harry knew he couldn't afford to be seen outside and if he had to leave the bike for any reason it would be best if it were dark out.

Harry spent the rest of the evening reading more of the instruction manual. There were highlights of the seat autoadjust feature and seat sticking charms for safety as well as some other enchantments. In the back pages Sirius had added comments of his own to some of the instructions. By the Home Base Auto Pilot details were his comments of **_"Great for when the party went a little too long or was enjoyed a little too much!"_** For the Warming Charm he had highlighted how to control the temperature and added, **_"Best to keep the temperature warm enough for comfort, but cool enough to give the young lady with you incentive to hold on tighter."_** The silencing charm also had adjustments to lower the sound to the rider, **_"better to hear the sweet nothings she wants to whisper in my ear."_**

One thing that Harry had to check out were the other AutoPilots. Besides Home base, there were four additional destinations that could be programmed. The instruction manual had told of how to list the destinations for each circle. Harry was intensely curious as to what destinations may be programmed into the bike.

Harry made his way back to Mrs. Black's room and opened the pocket door where the bike was hidden. He mounted the bike and turned the key to the power supply, but did not start the engine. He lightly touched the first AP1 circle. The front bar of the bike scrolled '_Ma and Dad's'_. He moved to AP2 and looked up at '_Prongs'_. AP3 ended up being '_Moony'_ and AP4 was '_Wormtail'._ He wished he would be able to see where Sirius had lived, but he knew that Home Base automatically reprogrammed itself so now it was Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry was surprised that Sirius had a listing for 'Ma and Dad's'. He couldn't imagine anyone calling Mrs. Black 'Ma'. He didn't think he had ever heard Sirius speak of her as anything but 'Mother' and that usually had a bitter tinge to it.

Where Harry wanted to go was to '_Prongs'_. He wanted to see somewhere his dad had lived. Harry ended the night trying to clear his mind, but really dreaming of what he might find.

* * *

The next day Harry was in better spirits than he had been in for most of the past week. He filled his day with practice, exercise and helping the house elves with the redecorating. Dobby and Winky tried to keep him in a supervisory role, but one of the things Harry had ordered when he had made his supply list was a 'How-to" book on "Do-it-yourself-Wizarding-Remodeling". With some of the instructions in the book, Harry wasn't surprised that the Burrow didn't seem to have a straight line in it. Some of the charms were pretty hard to do while others didn't seem to have much purpose to them. Who would want their kitchen sink to start singing and become a fountain every half hour? But some simpler spells on how to change doorknobs or molding seemed ok and Harry had fun walking around with a pouch full of doorknobs and switching the serpent head handles for ones that had a look of a golden snitch with a wave of his hand. They really were interesting to see. They had lightly engraved wings on the sides. He really didn't have much against snakes, except Nagini, of course, but this house used the design to excess and made them look so evil.

Harry really was impressed with Winky's taste. She confided that before she became ill, Mrs. Crouch used to like to redecorate quite often and would have Winky help her. Winky started to understand what things she would like and anticipate some of her elegant tastes. Harry knew that the Crouch's were a very prominent family and he had no doubts whatsoever about placing the decoration in Winky's capable hands.

Every day that went by seemed to help Winky's confidence and pride. She seldom seemed to worry about being a bad house elf anymore, because Harry made sure to praise her often and complimented her on her achievements. Dobby seemed to be helping Winky's confidence as well. He had always cared for her as a friend, but now seemed to want something closer. Harry observed that although Winky would blush and seem shy with the attention, every so often when Dobby wasn't looking, she would look at him with a thoughtful, affectionate look in her eyes, too. Harry had no idea of how house elves courted and really had no interest in finding out so he would try to leave them be whenever Dobby would start getting that look in his eye and make an excuse to be elsewhere in the house.

Finally it was evening. Harry went back to the Triumph. He brought a plain black cloak he had found that had a hood. He had asked Winky if she could adjust it to fit him as it was too large and she had been able to alter it for him. He wanted to see 'Prongs' place and thought he would probably be getting off the bike to explore and wanted to conceal his features in case anyone would be about. He stuffed the cloak into one of the saddlebags.

Harry's heart was pounding as he opened the doors and guided the bike out onto the roof. He closed the roof doors again and set off. Even though the disillusionment charm was on him he activated the Silencio and Invisibility Booster for added security. Once he was airborn, he hit the AP2 button. '_AutoPilot to Prongs activated'_ scrolled across the handle bars. The bike climbed in altitude and turned north and Harry settled himself for a possibly long ride.

Harry flew for about an hour before the bike started to descend. His heart was racing as the bike landed. Harry activated the Muggle-Repelling/Notice-Me-Not charm and took off the Invisibility Booster and Silencing charm. The bike slowed to a stop at the end of a cul-de-sac. There was nothing there. Harry went back up the street and looked at the street sign. 'Gryffindor Lane'. Harry blinked. This must be Godric's Hollow.

Harry returned to the end of the cul-de-sac. He thought in his mind 'Godric's Hollow' and sure enough a house started to grow before his eyes. At least, it had once been a house. Now there was barely anything standing. Harry knew almost 15 years had past since Voldemort had attacked his family here and those 15 years would have added much to the wear and tear on the wreckage, but standing here looking at it Harry was amazed. Amazed that he had survived. Forget about surviving the deadly Avada Kedavra curse, how had he survived the fall out?

Harry approached the house cautiously. He knew it couldn't be a safe structure anymore and if the Fidelius Charm apparently hadn't still been working it would have been torn down long ago. It seemed that it had been a single-story small cottage house with no basement. Harry approached where there were no walls to fall on him. It was dark. Harry wondered how the 'lumos' spell would work wandlessly. He tried it and a small ball of light formed above his hand. As he entered the room he thought it might have been a bedroom. Here and there he could see scraps of things he could almost recognize as once having been a lamp or a back of a chair, but there was nothing intact. He moved forward into the house, carefully picking his way over fallen roof joists and rotted shingles. Towards the middle of the house there looked to be some fire damage. Harry reckoned it might have been the living room because he found some old LP muggle records. They were melted, but he could read some of the titles such as "The Beatles" and "The Who". Others were totally unreadable.

There was only one room that was still partially intact. Harry didn't dare to try to go any further. The walls looked too unsteady. But he really was curious as to what room it might be. Harry looked at the ball of light in his hand. He wondered if he could 'throw' the light into the next room and light it up. He focused on the ball of light and tried to push it away from him. The ball moved slowly away from him and through the damaged wall. The light was too small for Harry to be able to see anything. He tried to increase the light. "Lumos Augeo". The light became as bright as an overhead light. Harry could see that it was probably a kitchen. Harry was a bit disappointed. He had been hoping there would be something here that could help him understand his parents better, understand their life, but besides learning they liked the kind of music that played on his Wireless muggle station, there didn't seem to be anything personal to be found here. He doubted they kept personal items in their kitchen and he wasn't going to risk a cave in to only find a spoon or such.

Harry called the ball of light back to himself and carefully made his way back outside. Harry sat in the overgrown weeds surrounding the house and just stared at the house. This was where his parents died. Harry remembered that up the street a little ways was a patch of wildflowers. Harry got up and walked over to where the flowers were. He pick a dozen or so and walked back to the patch of weeds in front of the house. He gently laid down the flowers he'd picked. "Goodbye, Mum and Dad. I miss you."

Harry turned and got back on the bike.

* * *

It was after Midnight by the time Harry had returned to Grimmauld Place. His enthusiasm had dampened a bit with the revelation of where Prongs place was, but as he still had three weeks left of summer and nothing else to do, he did plan to explore the other places as well.

Harry slept in the next morning. Winky cooked him a delicious breakfast and he went into the trunk to start his exercises. He was half way through them when Dobby came down and said he had a visitor. Harry was puzzled but made his way out of the trunk.

Harry was surprised to see Professor Dumbledore waiting for him. "Professor, what can I do for you?"

"Hogwarts letters were going out today and I thought I would bring yours to you directly. How have you been doing, Harry?" Professor Dumbledore pulled a letter out of his robes and handed it over. Harry looked at it and wondered at what other reason Dumbledore might have come. Playing delivery boy didn't seem to fit.

"I've been fine, sir. Thank you for delivering this." Harry said, holding the letter up.

"No problem at all, my boy. I see you've been quite busy with the redecorating. A great improvement. Yes indeed, a great improvement. Would you mind showing me around?"

Harry looked at him with a puzzled expression, but agreed. He started with the entrance hall, pointing out some of the changes they had made. They made their way to the kitchen and Harry pointed out what they had already changed and what they were planning to do. He also mentioned plans for others rooms, not sure what his professor wanted.

Eventually the Headmaster asked quite casually, "Have you started work on any other rooms as of yet?"

The light bulb went on for Harry. Phineas Nigellus most likely reported that Harry didn't come in until quite late and he couldn't tell what Harry had been doing. Harry started thinking fast.

"There is one other room that Dobby started. I've let him decide how to redecorate Mrs. Black's former room. I can show you. By the way, can you tell me how the Weasley's are? I've been thinking about them. In fact, just last night I spent some time in there while I was wondering how they were doing. Wondering how all my friends are doing, really. It's hard not being able to send owls to them."

Professor Dumbledore's head raised while Harry was talking and his smile seemed to widen. "I am sure the Weasley's are just fine. They are currently in Romania out of contact with the Order, but they should be reporting in another day or so. Your other friends are also doing well. I believe Miss Granger is currently visiting Athens, and Miss Lovegood is with her father in Sweden. Mr. Longbottom is, of course, at home with his Grandmother."

They had reached the top floor and Harry opened the door. He looked around casually and walked over to the bed with a tie-dye rainbow colored coverlet on it and sat down. He looked his professor straight in the eye. "I miss them. As strange as it seems, this room reminds me of everyone. I know Sirius spent a lot of time in here with Buckbeak and I just feel a connection with him here."

Professor Dumbledore looked around the room. What Harry had said was true. He did feel closer to Sirius in this room. Not so much for the memory of Buckbeak as for the Motorcycle, but Dumbledore didn't have to know that. Dumbledore sat on the bed next to Harry. "I know it's been lonely for you here, but it's only for a short time more. School will be starting again. You'll be happy to know that your ban on Quidditch has, of course, been lifted. I expect you will look forward to flying again."

Harry's eyes lit. As much from suppressed laughter as with excitement for playing Quidditch again. "Yes. I do love to fly."

"Well, Harry, you are doing a fine job with the remodeling. I shall be going now. Try not to stay up too late."

"Yes, sir." Harry watched his Headmaster leave.

* * *

As Harry was flying to the AutoPilot Remus area, he thought about his Headmaster's visit. He knew Dumbledore was concerned about him and wanted to check that he wasn't getting himself into trouble. Harry knew what he was doing would be considered 'getting into trouble', but he also knew that he needed this. Dobby and Winky were great but he needed something more to focus on. He hoped that Professor Dumbledore would be satisfied thinking that he just spent time in Mrs. Black's room thinking about his friends.

Harry thought back to his school letter. It listed all the classes sixth years could take. There were the NEWT classes as well as secondary classes. Some of them sounded pretty interesting. Professor McGonagall had penned a note on the bottom saying that although he did not qualify for the Potions NEWT she would make arrangements for him to get the necessary potions knowledge as long as still desired to be an Auror. He should purchase the NEWT Potions book as well as the Secondary one.

Harry had thought over his choices. He only qualified for 5 NEWT classes and for an Auror you needed at least 5 NEWT classes passed with Exceeds Expectations so he had signed up for all he'd qualified for; COMC, Charms, DADA, Herbology and Transfiguration.

He had heard that the Secondary classes were not taught by the Hogwarts Professors, but rather by teachers that lived off of the Hogwarts grounds and only came in for their classes. He hoped so. He also hoped that whatever arrangements Professor McGonagall was going to make on his behalf didn't include Snape in them.

The choices of secondary classes were; Apparition, Art, Magical Music, Finance, First Aid, Household Spells, Spell Construction and Wizarding Law. Apparition was an obvious secondary class to take and was only offered at the end of the year, but the others he had to think a little more. At this point he could go back and take any of the other subjects he had not taken back in 3rd year because the secondary classes were more of a overview of everything learned to date in the other classes. Art, he appreciated it just fine and had no desire to learn how to do it; the same with Magical Music. Finance was a secondary classhe figured would be good for him since he really had no idea what to do with that. All he learned so far on that was the bit Remus helped him with on how to order things this summer. With how often he ended up in the hospital wing, he figured learning first aid would be a good thing. Household Spells he thought might be an easy one for him, but not really needed. Dobby and Winky were all the help he should ever need. If worst came to worst, he did know how to clean and cook the muggle way. The final class, Wizarding Law, Harry thought would be good to know, but his schedule was already full and he was a bit leery of the 'learning its history' part in the detailed description. He thought he might buy the textbook anyway even if he didn't take the class.

He added a note to the bottom of his selection list that he would appreciate Professor McGonagall to help with arrangements for Potions. He cringed wondering how bad it was going to be.

Harry pulled the additional booklist/requirement sheet to find the necessary items needed for each class. He then pulled out his catalog order forms from Diagon Alley and ordered each book (including the one on Wizarding Law), potion ingredient and cauldrons (for both NEWT and Secondary classes), and dragon hide apron for Herbology. He had Winky help measure him so he could order new basic robes and some other clothes for Hogwarts.

Harry jerked out of his rememberings as the Triumph started it's descent. He was not far out of London. The bike touched down on a small suburban street in front of a little two-story house. The front yard had an 'Apartment to let' sign and Harry could see through the front window a little old lady sitting in the living room watching the telly.

Harry never even dismounted the bike. These excursions might not be shedding much on his past, but they still were a way to get out at night. He returned to Grimmauld Place by 10 pm.

_

* * *

Harry was at the Shrieking Shack. He was feeling impatient. Someone came in from behind him._

"_He is here, Master. Shall we bring him to you?" It was a groveling, whiny voice, fitting for a rat._

"_Yesss, Wormtail. Bring him in." Harry was anticipating what was coming. He could feel his excitement grow._

_Wormtail dragged a beaten and bloody red-haired boy into the room. The boy looked up with fright. "Wh-what do you want?"_

_Harry smiled, an evil smile. "I want you to tell me where Harry Potter is. I want you to tell me now."_

"_No! I won't do it!"_

"_Crucio…"_

Harry woke with a start. His scar was burning dully on his forehead. Ron! He had to tell somebody!

Harry pulled out his mirror. "Remus Lupin."

There was no response. He tried again. "Remus John Lupin!" Still no response.

Harry ran to Mrs. Black's room. He knew Ron couldn't give his whereabouts even if he wanted to with the Fidelius Charm in place. Harry's scar twinged again. He threw open the pocket doors and ran to the roof doors.

Harry paused. He stood there panting, his hand on the roof door. This was similar to the vision with Sirius. He didn't know if it was true or not. Harry tried his mirror again. "Remus Lupin!" Again there was no response.

Harry stood there struggling to control his thoughts. He was totally panicked. If it was true…he couldn't ignore Ron. His scar twinged again, this time more painfully. If it was a trick…but what if it wasn't? Oh, Merlin! What was he to do?

Harry stood there debating. If it was a trap, at least he was by himself. He started to push the roof doors open. He stopped half way. That was stupid. That was his panic talking. There had to be another way. Dumbledore had said the Weasleys were out of contact so even if he had been able to contact them the most they could do would be to go to the Shack and if that was a trap…But what if it wasn't? Arrgh! This was driving Harry insane! There had to be a way to check. If only he could see Ginny he could ask her. See Ginny…?

The trunk! Harry ran back to his room and threw open his trunk. He grabbed his invisibility cloak, slammed it down again and re-opened it to the room. He scrambled down far enough to look to see if Ginny's door was there. It was! He dropped the rest of the way to the floor and hurriedly climbed the other ladder. He threw the invisibility cloak over himself and climbed out on Ginny's side.

Harry looked around the dark room. It appeared to be a dormitory of some kind. There were eight beds in the room, several with bodies in them. Harry looked up to the bed the trunk was at the foot of. He needed to wake Ginny without her waking the rest of the dormitory. He took the invisibility cloak off and quietly made his way over to her. He shook her shoulder while putting a hand over her mouth and whispering her name. "Ginny! Ginny, wake up! It's me, Harry!"

Ginny started and her eyes grew wide before she started to relax enough for Harry to let go of her. She whispered back, "Harry! What are you doing here?" She looked at Harry's pale face and knew something was wrong.

"I had a vision. Do you know where Ron is?" Harry asked urgently.

Ginny's eyes grew wide again. "He…He should be down the hall in the boys dormitory with Dad."

"Can you show me?"

"Of course." Ginny slid out of bed and grabbed her robe hanging from a bedpost. Harry stood and silently offered her space under the invisibility cloak. She slipped underneath and led the way to the door.

Outside in the hallway, Ginny turned to the right. Down the hall she pointed to another door on the opposite side of the hall. "In there." She could hear Harry's breaths coming rapidly and feel him shaking slightly. He seemed to hesitate, afraid of what he would find. Ginny pushed forward and opened the door. They took a look around. Ginny ducked from under the cloak and started looking into the beds. Harry took the beds against the opposite wall.

"Ron!" Harry's relieved whisper carried across the room. Ginny quickly made her way over to him. Sure enough, there was Ron with his mouth open, snoring gently. Harry slowly collapsed to his knees and put his head down against Ron's bed. Ron snorted and turned.

Ginny touched Harry's shoulder. "Harry. Let's get out of here." She bent down, lightly took his arm and tugged.

Harry turned towards her with tears in his eyes. "Yeah. Okay." Harry stood up.

Ron snorted again and blinked his eyes. "Harry?...'Izzat you?"

Ginny bent over him. "Your dreaming, Ron. Go back to sleep."

"S'alright." Ron closed his eyes again and a moment later was snoring.

Ginny shook her head and smiled at him. "Such an idiot." she said with sisterly affection.

Harry just stood there, staring at Ron. He was still shaking slightly. Ginny frowned and took hold of his arm. "Come on." Harry blindly followed her.

Ginny covered them with the invisibility cloak and led them back to her room. She opened the trunk and pushed him towards it. Harry descended the ladder and Ginny followed with the cloak.

Harry was just standing at the bottom of the ladder staring at nothing. He gave a wince and brought a hand to his forehead.

Ginny pushed him to an armchair and forced him to sit. She sat in the chair next to him and leaned forward. "Now tell me what's going on."

Harry closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath. "I had another vision. It was like the one I had with Sirius, but this time it was Ron at the Shrieking Shack. I tried to get in touch with Remus, but he didn't answer." Harry couldn't tell what Ginny's expression meant. "I can't tell when they're real. I had one earlier this summer about Cho that was real. I was able to get in touch with the Order and they handled it, but this time I couldn't get in touch with them. I was all set to leave when I thought of the trunk." Harry looked at Ginny.

Ginny looked horrified that Harry almost left. "You almost left Grimmauld Place?"

"It was Ron, Ginny! I saw him being tortured because of me! Voldemort was asking him where I was. If you had seen Ron being tortured, what would you have done?"

"I would have gone after him," Ginny said quietly. She quirked her lips into a smile. "Instead you came to Romania. That was pretty smart of you."

Harry took a deep breath. "So what is that place you're staying at?"

"It's just another youth hostel. You know, a cheap place to stay, girls on one side, boys on the other. This one's a muggle one. Good thing, too. The magical ones have alarms for opposite genders in the dorms." Ginny said with a smirk. She saw Harry wince again. Her face became serious. "What's wrong with your scar?"

Harry grimaced. "Old Snake-face knows about the connection. He can keep enough pain going to keep my panic up. He did it with Sirius, too. He keeps it burning, then occasionally sends a hot spike through to keep me moving. I'll just have to ride it out."

Ginny looked at him with concern. "How long do you think it will last?"

Harry frowned. "With the Ministry, it was a couple of hours. Maybe by morning he'll figure out I'm not coming and quit. Unfortunately, that will probably just make him angry. I'm not looking forward to that."

Ginny looked angry and frustrated now. "Can't you stop it? Weren't you learning that last year?"

Harry snorted. "Yeah, right. Snape was 'teaching' me Occlumency. Basically he would tell me to 'clear my mind' then break in and drag up all my worst memories. Every time he did, I could feel Voldemort's feelings clearer afterward. No. I don't know how to stop it."

"Clear your mind?" Ginny looked intently at Harry.

"Yeah. Dumbledore said that clearing the mind is best but sometimes focusing on something else can work as well. I've tried music, thinking of flying, relaxing in a bath…nothing is working. I just can't seem to do it."

Ginny looked thoughtful. "So you need something to calm you?..." Her head snapped up. "I think I might know something that might help! Stay here." Ginny leapt up and ran for the ladder. She climbed up and moments later came back down.

Harry watched her feeling confused. As she came closer she had a look of anticipation on her face. She stopped in front of him, reached into her pocket and pulled out a ball, presenting it to him on her open palm.

It must have been obvious that Harry had no clue what it was because Ginny shook her head at him and said, "It's a magical stress ball." When he still had no reaction, she threw her hand up and muttered something like 'muggle-raised!' with frustration and threw herself back in the opposite chair again.

She raised her head and looked at him straight in the eye. "Okay. A magical stress ball calms a person down. Don't give me that suspicious look. It's enchanted so when you squeeze it, it does some sort of light scan to recognize what type of sound could calm you. After my first year I had nightmares. Mum and Dad got this for me and it worked pretty good. When I give it a squeeze I hear the sea; waves crashing and bird calls." She held it out for Harry. "Honestly, it'll help. I know it will."

Harry took it hesitantly. "Ginny, if you have this with you, you must still use it. I don't want to take it from you."

Ginny looked down. "I still use it on occasion, but I'll be ok for tonight; after all, it's already four in the morning, not much more night to go. You need to give it a try. You need to block V-Voldemort from your mind. Try it."

Harry looked at the ball. "If it works, I'll get one from somewhere and leave this for you down here so you can get it back. Oh," Harry just had a thought. "Happy birthday a little late. I have a present for you. I left it over on the counter." Harry looked down at the ball again. He winced as another jolt ran through his scar, took a breath and squeezed the magical stress ball. Weird song started flowing in head, the hair lifted from the back of his neck and his heart felt like it was swelling to twice its size. He looked up at Ginny with surprised eyes.

Ginny smiled gently. "What do you hear?"

Harry smiled back. "Phoenix song."

* * *

Harry slept late the next morning. He awoke at ten and made his way to the kitchen. He was surprised to see several people there. They all looked tired and some were nursing small injuries. Harry stayed back in the corner listening.

It seemed that there were several attacks the night before keeping the Order members extremely busy. Harry saw Remus talking with Tonks on the other side of the kitchen. Dung was sitting back in his chair talking animatedly with Kingsley Shacklebolt with a cloud of smoke circling his head smelling like rotten socks. Hestia Jones, Emmeline Vance and another witch Harry didn't know were chatting in another corner.

At that moment, Professors Snape and Dumbledore entered the room. Snape was scowling as usual. "…don't know what the main focus was last night. The Death Eaters were just told to keep everybody busy. All but a few of us were sent out. About twenty of us were to stay near Hogsmeade, but were not told why. Whatever it was it apparently didn't work because the Dark Lord was extremely angry this morning. In between issuing 'punishments for failure' he was muttering about broken connections." Snape shuddered slightly at the memory.

"He was after me." Harry spoke quietly from his corner.

Snape's head shot up followed by everybody else's. Snape's sneer increased. "Just what makes you think that, Potter? You think everything revolves around you? And just what are you doing in here, anyway?"

Professor Dumbledore cut in. "Enough, Severus. Harry, please tell us what you know."

Harry drew in a deep breath. He glared at Snape. "Last night I had another vision. He was torturing Ron at the Shrieking Shack. I couldn't get in touch with anyone. And since I live here, I was just getting myself some breakfast!"

Remus broke in, remorse strong in his voice. "Oh, Harry. I was out all night. There was an attack in Bristol."

Dung muttered, "Bristol…South London…Adlington…Poole…"

The Headmaster looked sharply at Dung. "Mundungas."

"Breakfast this late in the morning?" Snape just couldn't let it go.

"Yes. Breakfast this late in the morning. My sleep was a bit interrupted last night." Harry's voice was laden with sarcasm.

"All right you two." The Headmaster broke in again. "Harry, are you all right?" The Headmaster looked at him in concern.

"I'm fine, Professor. I was able to determine that it was a false vision and then found a way to stop the pain and go back to sleep."

The Headmasters eyes lit up in triumph and started to twinkle, but all he said was, "Indeed. I imagine that would frustrate Lord Voldemort. All that effort with very little to show for it. I think we shall adjourn to the Drawing Room and leave Harry to his breakfast in peace. Harry, I would like to speak with you a little later, if you don't mind."

"Not at all, Sir."

* * *

Harry finished his breakfast and took out some catalogs from Diagon Alley. He was determined to find a magical stress ball of his own so he could return Ginny's to her. He finally found one in _Murphey's Magical Instruments_. Harry filled out the order form and put a rush delivery on it. He called Hedwig over to him and sent her with the order right away. He should have his own magical stress ball by that evening. Harry was surprised at the price. It was quite an expensive item. Knowing how strapped for cash the Weasley's had been, Harry thought he might have an idea of how bad Ginny's nightmares were.

The meeting didn't seem to last too long after that morning discussion. There must not have been too much more to discuss. Eventually Remus found Harry in the kitchen.

"Have I told you I like what you're doing with the place? I can tell you're keeping busy. I must confess, I expected a lot less from your decorating. Much more along the lines of the door handles and more Gryffindor red and gold than what I see."

Harry grinned. "You've found me out. My one main contribution to the decorating was the door handles. What can I say? I figured people wouldn't notice them so much and I needed something that said 'me'. Winky's choosing the rest. Feel free to tell her you approve. She needs to hear it. I'm afraid if it was left to me the whole house _would_ probably be all red and gold and that much would make it look 'tacky' as my aunt would say."

Remus gave a laugh. "I'll be sure to thank Winky when I see her." Remus turned serious. "I am sorry I wasn't there for you last night."

Harry gave a half-hearted smile. "It's all right. I stopped myself from going off. But it was hard. I'm glad Ron gave me the trunk." Harry looked at Remus meaningfully.

Remus nodded. "I'm very glad he did, too. The Headmaster would like to see you now."

Harry nodded back and got to his feet. He made his way to the Drawing Room. Dumbledore was sitting in a chair writing something at a table. He looked up when Harry stepped in.

"Come. Sit down, young Harry. Would you mind telling me again, what exactly happened last night?"

Harry started with the vision he had and how he could not reach Remus. He mentioned how he panicked and thought of trying to get to the shack himself 'somehow' and then how he thought of the trunk. He told about waking Ginny and finding Ron and then how Ginny gave him her magical stress ball. Dumbledore had his hands steepled under his chin for most of the story. At this point he made a comment. "Very quick thinking under stressful conditions, but, please keep in mind that as much as it may have been a trick to lead you to the Shrieking Shack, it also could have been a trick to lead you to Mr. Weasley. Voldemort must have known they were out of contact for a while. I shall have to look into that. A good thing he did not know about your trunk. And they stress ball was able to help break the connection? Very opportune timing Miss Weasley had in bringing that to mind. I hate to think what Voldemort would have done when he knew he could cause you pain."

"I thought so, too, Sir." Harry said with a half-smile.

A look of curiosity came into his Headmaster's eyes. "May I ask you a personal question, Harry?"

"Of course, Sir."

"What do you hear with the magical stress ball?" His eyes started twinkling.

"Phoenix song, Sir."

Dumbledore's mouth curved into a smile and his eyes were bright above his half-moon glasses. "You do seem to have an affinity for that bird, don't you, Harry?"

* * *

The rest of the day seemed rather a let down after the excitement of the morning and night before. Harry returned the stress ball to the trunk and set it on the counter. He looked up. The Weasley's were on the move again. He hoped they stayed safe.

Harry practiced his target shooting with and without wand, spoken and silent, to pass the time. Tonight he was planning to see where Wormtail lived. He had no burning curiosity to see it, but it was a destination. He knew he didn't live there anymore.

As night fell, Harry made his way to the top of the house. It was quite cool tonight. It looked like a storm front might be moving in. Harry took off. His destination ended up being near the docks of London. Not a bad neighborhood per se, but definitely suspect. Harry could see a rat liking the area. Harry landed and kept the Notice-Me-Not charm activated as he drove around the area. As he passed an alley, he heard a scream and saw something flash out of the corner of his eye. He slowed and turned around.

Harry saw three cloaked figures surrounding a woman and two children. One of the cloaked figures was advancing on the woman as she backed up towards the back of the alley, trying to keep her children behind her.

"You messed up, Diana." A man's voice growled. "You didn't show up last night. Since your husband is in Azkaban, the Dark Lord is requiring you to take his place in the raids he should've been on."

"Now, Damon. I…I had to stay with the kids. I can't let them lose me, too." The woman seemed very afraid and her eyes were searching frantically around.

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way. You'll be coming with us now. The Dark Lord's decided you should get the Mark. Your children can watch. See what happens when you disobey. They need to learn sometime, don't they?" Harry could hear the grin in the man's voice. His stomach felt slightly sick and his heart started racing.

The woman started panicking. Harry still had the Disillusionment charm from when he left Grimmauld place. He reached into his saddlebag and took out the cloak and put it on, making sure the hood was covering his face. He gunned the motor on the Triumph and roared into the alley.

Harry drove straight into the middle Death Eater, kicked the one to his right and slimed the one on his left with his "Vir" spell. The Death Eater beneath him wasn't going anywhere and the slimed one was distracted for the moment. Harry focused on the one he had kicked. "Stupefy". The Death Eater was able to get a shield up and Harry had to duck the return spell. It hit the slimed Death Eater. Rain started to fall and Harry knew he was becoming more visible where the rain bounced off him. Harry reversed the bike and the man underneath groaned and curled up, grabbing his ribs. Harry heard a cutting curse and tried to get his shield up in time, but an edge of it hit his shoulder. "Vertere!" Harry threw another spell at the Death Eater and managed to hit him with a dizzying spell. The Death Eater started to stagger drunkenly and fell against the wall, vomiting.

Harry called to the lady, "Hop on!" She pulled her two children forward and ran to Harry on the bike. As she swung her leg over the seat she could barely see, it expanded to accommodate her. She lifted each child in front of her and again the bike stretched to fit them all. Harry shot forward out of the alley.

Harry knew that although he was disillusioned, she and the children were not and it would make a very strange sight driving down the street. He hit the Invisibility Booster and silenced the bike.

A few blocks away Harry felt the disillusionment charm drop and he was glad it hadn't happened in the alley. After a mile or so he pulled to the side. The woman started stating her thanks over and over again. The younger child had started crying. Harry could feel the older one shaking slightly right behind him. Harry's heart started to settle down. What had he just done? This definitely would fall under the 'trouble' Dumbledore didn't want him in.

Harry slid sideways on the bike so he could look back at them. What was he going to do with them? The girl sitting right behind him gasped and said, "You're hurt!"

Harry glanced at blood on his shoulder. It was bleeding but seemed to be a shallow cut. "Just a bit. Nothing to worry over. I've had worse." His eyes glanced to the children's mother. "Do you have somewhere I can take you that you'll be safe?"

The woman seemed to settle down a bit and started thinking. "We are staying at some friends I know. We had just gone back to get something, when they ambushed us. Could you take us there? I can give you directions."

"No worries." Harry followed the directions the lady gave and dropped her off. As Harry left he just had to add one thing. "If you need help staying hidden, see Professor Dumbledore at Hogwarts. I'm sure he'll help you."

"Who are you?"

"No one important. Just someone who wants to help."

The woman looked at Harry with tears in her eyes. "You don't even know who I am."

Harry just looked at her. She stood there with the rain pelting down on her head trying to shield her two girls, and he said, "I know you don't want to be Voldemort's slave. That's enough."


	6. Ma and Dads

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 6 Ma and Dad's

Harry landed back in Grimmauld Place with a bit of a dilemma. He was hurt and he was wet. The warming charm had come in handy but it didn't block the rain. He thought he might recommend a rain block to the manufacturers of the motorcycle. He tried a wandless drying charm before he left Mrs. Black's bedroom, but he definitely looked the worse for wear.

He stopped by a loo to clean and bandage the cut high on his shoulder and flung a towel over it to hide it from Phineas' view before going to his room. He grabbed some nightclothes and quickly made his way down the trunk. An automatic glance at the Weasley door he noticed they were settled for the night again. Ginny's stress ball and present were missing. There was a note left in their place. 'Thank you for the present.' Harry hoped she liked it. It was a charm for her bracelet in the shape of their exercise bike. He felt it was a thin line to tread. He wasn't sure if she had been serious about dating Dean but if she was he didn't want to offend Dean by getting anything too personal. But she wasn't some total stranger either.

Harry relaxed in a nice, warm bath. It felt wonderful after the chilled, wet night. He thought he might not take any more rides now, at least for a while. He had no other destinations to try, except the 'Ma and Dad's' and he figured that would just return him to Grimmauld Place.

Harry returned to his room and picked up his new magical stress ball that was setting beside his bed. He climbed under his covers and gave it a squeeze. Phoenix song filled his mind and he smiled as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The next few days Harry spent mostly trying to stay out of his House elf's way. Winky was almost done with her kitchen and Dobby was always right by her side. The kitchen was looking completely different than before. It was bright and cheery. The table was smooth and the chairs matched. The cooking appliances shone as well as hanging pots and pans. It reminded Harry a bit of the Hogwarts kitchen. Winky definitely had ideas of what she wanted and was becoming much less shy about stating them. Her suggestions to Harry didn't seem to seek his approval as her first ones so desperately did. They were more informing him of what was going to be, and Harry was fine with that.

Harry was glad Winky didn't seem to need the attention she did before; at least not from him. When he thought of the difference from not even a month ago…

Harry spent the next few days and evenings practicing down in his trunk, listening to the Wireless or reading. He was beginning to get restless again. He was tempted to visit the Weasley's again, but knew he couldn't just pop out of Ginny's trunk, especially if she didn't have privacy and there could be alarms for any male in the dorm. But he was tempted. His friends were so close, yet so far away and it was driving him mad.

He talked with Remus on Wednesday, thinking how he could easily picture Remus living in an upstairs apartment of some old lady's house. Remus asked if he had any other visions and Harry gladly told him how he hadn't been having any problems at all. He occasionally still got a twinge and even the odd jolt of a foreign emotion, but much less than before. He thought he would ask Dumbledore about it when he next saw him. He wasn't sure if it meant he hadn't mastered Occlumency since Voldemort could still get through or since he pretty much needed the stress ball to calm him down before sleeping. Well, he knew he hadn't 'mastered' it, but he knew he had a good beginning.

On Friday Harry was looking for another book to read. Nothing was holding his attention anymore. He saw at the end of the row his Dad's journal. He only read bits at a time because, frankly, his father's handwriting wasn't the best and not the easiest to read. He thought he was probably good enough with the wordless and wandless magic to proceed to the next step, except his friends weren't and he couldn't do the trance by himself anyway. At least he didn't think so. He took the journal down.

_22-Oct-75_

_We've come a ways on the Wordless magic, but Wandless magic is still iffy. I say 'we' but that's excluding Peter. Remus and I have each been trying to do some one on one with Peter to get him to be able to get close to where we are, but nothing yet. Remus, of course, is trying any spell; I've been working only with the 'Espiritufalsus'. The book we read said that if you can hold the animation spell for five minutes wordlessly and wandlessly, you should be able to complete the Animagus spell. It's not that easy but we will do it. It sure was the pits that we had to waste a whole summer not being able to practice. Someone should do something about that underage law!_

_I was thinking that when we succeed we could give each other nicknames. I think that would be kinda neat. I can't wait until we do succeed. I know Remus still keeps expecting that we will leave him because of what he is just one night a month. _

_Found another thing about the animal we can turn into. Had to do something this summer, so we actually spent some time reading! Well, we didn't dedicate our life to it, but Sirius found the animating spell thing and I found that the wizard's level of power limits what animal he can become. I think Peter's dream of being a dragon is totally out. I hope our dreams of being large animals aren't out._

_Basically – 'The size of the animal can be an indication of a witch or wizard's power. The smaller the animal, the less powerful the person; the larger the animal, the more powerful the person.' – of course right there Sirius was making raunchy jokes about it not being the size of the animal, but what you can do with it, but to continue…_

'_An exception comes with magical creatures. A cat that is part kneazle could be more powerful than a wizard who is an elephant, though not always; and a pure magical moke lizard would be much more powerful than any non-magical creature even though it's size is only ten inches.'_

_I don't know if McGonagall's cat form is part kneazle or not, but I expect it is because I've heard Ma talk about her being a powerful witch._

_Speaking of Ma, I guess old McGonagall followed through on her threat of owling Ma and Dad on the Head Table Vanishing prank. Ma sent a howler like you wouldn't believe. She not only yelled at me, but also Sirius. Not too surprising since he spent most of the summer with us. Ma says that he's practically become another Potter. Sure was funny, though, with all the teachers with their laps full of food…_

'Ma and Dad'? Could the destination on the motorcycle be his grandparent's place? Harry started breathing faster. He had to see. Suddenly Harry couldn't wait for night to fall again.

As for the spell to practice for the Animagus transformation, he would have to look through his books to see if it was in there. There may be certain movements or something that help with the spell. Harry quickly scanned the titles in front of him. None seemed a likely candidate for an animation spell.

'Ma and Dad'. Harry wanted to find out now, but knew he had to wait. He could probably leave in about four hours. It wouldn't be totally dark yet, but maybe it was a long drive. He could keep the invisibility booster on if it was short and keep out of sight. He hoped it wasn't raining, but he would go even if it was.

Harry remembered the rip in the jacket and cloak. He thought he would ask Winky if she could mend them. Harry left the trunk and made his way upstairs.

Winky was happy to mend the jacket and cloak even though she was appalled at the blood on them. Harry left them with her asking her to return them to Mrs. Black's room instead of his. She looked at him suspiciously, but didn't say anything. She was still too much the good house elf to ever question her master.

Harry moved on to find his new schoolbooks. He looked through them for a couple of hours and there were some basic animating spells, but not the one mentioned. Harry decided to see if he could order a book from Flourish and Blotts. But that could wait. Now Harry was going to eat some dinner and get ready to go out again.

* * *

The night was overcast but dry. There was almost no moon being not quite two weeks away from the full moon. The Triumph vibrated along with Harry's heart. He still couldn't quite believe that he was on his way to his Grandparent's house. He had been half afraid that the bike would do a 180 and return him to Grimmauld Place and he couldn't keep in the whoop of joy and excitement when instead the bike turned south.

He flew for about half an hour. The English countryside spread out below in the darkening twilight. Soon Harry started hearing the sound of the sea. The Triumph started descending and lightly touched down along a country lane. Shortly he turned into what looked the entrance of a private drive.

All of a sudden the bike slowed to a stop. A circle appeared in the air to his right. A voice intoned, "Place your hand through the circle for ward recognition."

Harry hadn't run into this before. He briefly wondered what would happen if the wards didn't recognize him, but he hadn't come all this way to turn around without trying. Harry placed his hand through the circle.

Everything suddenly went dark and Harry was no longer on his bike or even outside. As Harry's eyes started adjusting to the light, he reached for his wand. It wasn't on him anymore. Harry started recognizing shapes. He recognized vertical bars coming down in front of him. It looked like he was in some sort of holding cell. Harry tried "Alohamora" but nothing opened.

Harry tried a Lumos spell. A small ball of light settled above his hand. He couldn't tell much more about his surroundings than in the dingy darkness, but he did find a cot to sit on in the cell.

Harry sat down and heaved a large sigh. He let the light go out. He hoped someone came soon. Come to think of it, if this was his grandparents place, he hoped there was someone alive _to_ come.

After about ten minutes Harry heard a noise across the room. Slowly a door opened. A short creature came waddling in. Harry couldn't tell much about him. The door closed behind him and the creature moved towards a table. He struck a match and lit a lantern. He lifted it up and moved towards Harry.

"Let Gilly see what Gilly caught today." he said in a low, rasping voice. He was a house elf who looked older than Kreacher had been. He peered nearsightedly at Harry. "Move closer, yous."

Harry got up from the cot and moved closer to the house elf. The elf was wearing a worn toga-style towel with a crest that Harry couldn't see clearly. He had bits of gray hair on his head and his nose was as short as Winky's but as pointed as Dobby's. The house elf looked up in surprise and said, "Master James? No…No…Yous is trying to trick old Gilly. Old Gilly won't be tricked by that Polyjuice. Who is yous?" The old elf looked suspiciously at Harry.

"My name is Harry."

"Why is yous coming to this place? Who is yous looking for?" The voice sounded like rough gravel and almost painful to the ears.

"This is where my Godfather's motorcycle drove me. I was hoping this was where the Potter's had lived."

"This be their place. Who be your Godfather?"

"My Godfather was Sirius Black. On his bike this was listed as 'Ma and Dad's'."

"I's remember young Black. He and Master James, they was right wild ones they was. Leastways until Miss Lily settled him down." The old elf gave a slightly wheezy chuckle.

Gilly sank into memories for several minutes. Finally Harry felt he needed to interrupt. "Gilly, what is this place?"

"Eh? This be the interrogation room. If yous not known by the wards, yous sent here. Gilly's job is to find out who yous is. If yous belong, Gilly let you though; but if'n yous don't belong…" Gilly suddenly looked up with a sharp look on his face. "Yous said young Black _was_ your Godfather? Where's young Black?"

Harry looked at his hands before looking back to the old elf. "He died last June."

The elf shook his head sorrowfully. "'Tis a pity. Another one gone. Do you know of Master James and Miss Lily? They said they was going away only for a little, but they'd not come back to see Gilly."

"They died almost fifteen years ago."

Gilly was nodding his head. "Gilly knowed something like that happened. Master James and Miss Lily would've come to see Old Gilly long before now. Gilly supposes it was You-Know-Who?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. He came to their house. They died and their house was destroyed."

"How be you knows this? Your Godfather tell you?" Gilly was peering closely at Harry again.

"They were my parents."

Gilly's eyes opened to their fullest extent and he fell down. "You…be…Master Harry?"

"Well…I'm Harry. Harry Potter." Harry reached down through the bars to help the old elf back up.

"Master Harry, forgive old Gilly. Old Gilly's magic is failing and don't knows wizards likes I used to. If'n you be Master James boy, would yous just go to the back and place yous hand on the circle thing back there? That will nip your finger a bit and turn orange if'n you be of the Potter line."

Harry shrugged and walked to the back. There was another circle as there had been outside, but this one was smaller. Harry placed his hand in the circle and felt a sharp pressure on one of his fingers, like a small doxy bite. The circle glowed orange around his hand and he pulled his hand back out. The sting from his finger already faded and there was no mark on it. Harry walked back over to the bars at the front of his cell.

Gilly had his eyes scrunched closed and snapped his fingers. He peeked one eye open, saw nothing changed and scrunched it closed again. He started mumbling some words softly to himself and snapped his fingers again. The eye peeked open again and this time he heaved a panicked breath. He walked over to the bars and started to bang his head against them.

Harry reached through and grabbed hold of the old elf's head. "Gilly! _Gilly_! Stop! What are you doing?"

The elf looked up with fearful eyes. "Gilly's magic can't open the doors. You is stuck. What is Gilly to do?" Gilly went to bang his head against the bars again, but Harry held him back.

"Stop. Stop. Punishing yourself won't help. Is there some spell I could do? I tried Alohamora earlier, but it didn't work." Harry was trying to think of other alternatives.

Gilly's eyes widened. "Gilly can get Master Harry his wand. Gilly go now!" Gilly ran off to get Harry's wand.

In a moment he came wheezing back. He triumphantly handed Harry his wand. "Thanks, Gilly. The only problem is that I'm 16. I'm not allowed to use wand magic." As Gilly's face fell, Harry continued. "It might be okay, though. I've been practicing wandless magic. What is the spell?"

"It be the break out spell. Much stronger than the open lock spell. 'Erumpo' is the word. It lifts the bars back up." Gilly looked like he was trying to think of what else they could do. His fists started curling up and he was pressing them against his head. From experience with Dobby, Harry knew it was only a matter of time before he started hitting himself.

Harry took his focus off of the elf and put it on the bars. It sounded like they should explode out and up. Harry thought that maybe it would be like a garage door. The old elf said it needed a lot of power so Harry focused intently on the power gathering in his chest then threw his hands forwards saying forcefully, "_Erumpo_!" trying to force the bottom of the bars to swing upward.

The spell seemed to cause a minor explosion. The bottom of the bars did swing up. They hit the ceiling and the whole set came crashing down to the floor. Dust swirled up, causing Harry to start choking on it. The force sent Gilly flying back into the wall.

"Oops. Gilly are you all right? Sorry 'bout that." Harry coughed through the gloom, looking for the old elf. Harry just heard rasping breathing from the side of the room.

Harry picked through the debris until he was kneeling by the elf. Gilly was holding his left arm. It was obviously injured. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to get hurt! Is there someone around who can help you? Can I help you?"

Gilly turned painful eyes towards Harry. Even through the pain, Harry could see some confusion. "Master Harry would help Gilly? Gilly prisoned Master Harry! Gilly not deserve help."

Harry shook his head. "Yes, you do deserve help. How can I help you?"

"Master cannot help Gilly. Only house elf magic can fix arm. And Gilly is last house elf. Others all die. Gilly be the last house elf to serve Master Harry." Harry could see that Gilly's breathing was not going well. He needed to get him out of this mess.

"Could I call other house elves here to help you?"

"They could not find this place. Only house elves that serves Potters can find."

Harry brightened. "Well, that's okay then. Dobby! Winky!" Harry called to the two elves that lived with him.

Winky appeared with a crack. "Harry Potter, sir! What can Winky be doing for Harry Potter?" Winky started looking around with shock on her face at the dusty mess that was around her.

Harry motioned toward Gilly. "There was a bit of an accident and Gilly was hurt. Can you help him?"

Winky blinked a few times then seemed to snap out of it. She leaned over the injured house elf. She ran one hand about 3 inches above his body until she stopped over his arm. She had a look of compassion on her face as if she realized something then she closed her eyes and snapped her long fingers.

Gilly's breathing instantly evened out. Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Winky. By the way, this is Gilly. Gilly, this is Winky. Gilly, is there somewhere I can take you where you'll be more comfortable?"

It looked like Winky's bottom lip started to quiver, then she bit down on it firmly. Tears started building in her eyes. Gilly looked tired. He silently pointed out the door. Harry got up and then lifted the old house elf in his arms. He was heavier than he thought he would be, but with the working out he'd been doing this summer, Harry managed all right. He carefully picked his way through the rubble to the door. Winky followed behind.

The elf started to rasp, "Master Harry mustn't be carrying old Gilly. Masters don't be carrying house elves."

Harry just stated, "This one does."

Harry carried the elf through the door and into another darkened room. "Winky, can you light it up in here?"

"Of course, sir. Winky be glad to." She snapped her fingers and the room lit. It was a little room with a small bed over in one corner. Harry gently laid the old elf on his bed. The old elf closed his eyes. Harry glanced over to Winky.

"Could Dobby not come? Or was he busy?" He was curious why only Winky came when he called both of them. Normally Dobby would try to get near Harry first.

Winky shrugged her small shoulders. "Winky be not knowing."

The raspy voice from the bed asked, "Is this Dobby Master Harry's house elf?"

"Well, no. He prefers to be a free house elf. He's my friend, though and I was just surprised he didn't come as well."

"This house be protected very well. Dobby wouldn't be able to come."

Winky's eyes got wide and she started to shake her head. "Oooh. Dobby not like that!"

"Gilly? Is there any way I can let Dobby in?" Harry thought Dobby might be getting frantic if he couldn't find Harry.

The old house elf pointed to another door. "If Master Harry go out that door, Master be outside wards. Master could call to Dobby again and Dobby could get there. If Master wants to let trusted ones in, Master just need say recognition spell and lead them in. Then they be able to find." Gilly started to get agitated as he had a thought. "Spell does not need to be as strong as break out spell. Master Harry must be strong wizard."

Harry shrugged. He looked at Winky, silently asking her to take care of the old elf for a moment. Winky nodded back. Harry left through the second door.

Standing outside, he was right by his bike again. Harry called out for Dobby and Dobby popped right next to him and grabbed his middle in a relieved squeeze.

"Harry Potter needed help and Dobby couldn't find Harry Potter! Winky went missing, too. Is Harry Potter all right?" Dobby's ears were flapping back in forth in his agitation.

"I'm fine, Dobby." Harry tried to ease out of Dobby's enthusiastic greeting hold. "This is my Grandparent's place. There was a bit of trouble, but it's all okay now. It's just that the wards won't let you through. I asked an old house elf who lives here about it and he told me how to get them to recognize you so you'll be able to come here, too. I haven't done it before, but I'll give it a try."

Dobby's eyes grew as he felt the honor that Harry wanted him to have access to another of his homes. Harry turned toward the shimmer of orange. He spoke the same incantation he heard Mrs. Weasley say when they gave him the trunk. There was a brief flare of light then Harry led the way back to the door he could see just beyond the shimmer. Dobby was able to follow him through.

Harry could hear a bit of the conversation between Winky and Gilly. Gilly had the impression that Winky must be a high ranking house elf because of her style of clothes, but he didn't understand the crest. "Where did that crest come from? That is not the Potter crest."

"I don't believe Harry Potter, sir, knowed his family crest, so this one got made. The 'P' for Potter and the jagged edge for his scar." Harry hadn't really thought of it before, but it was kinda cool.

Harry introduced Dobby to Gilly and they each looked at each other curiously. Harry looked more closely at the crest that Gilly wore. He'd never seen it before. It was divided in three. The entire right side had a lion rising on it's back paws and the left side top had a sword and the left bottom was a wizard's hat. "Is that the Potter crest?"

"Yes, Master Harry. That be the Potter crest for a thousand years. Master Harry, you need not stay with Gilly. You go on up to see your house." Gilly gave a cough. Harry looked at him closely.

"Yes. You be going, Harry Potter, sir. Winky and Dobby be staying with Gilly. We's be making sure he be ok." Winky took Harry's hand and led him to the door. "Gilly says that you just needs to follow the drive to the house."

"All right, but if you need anything, come and get me." And Harry turned and left.

* * *

Harry got back on the bike and could now drive through the orange 'balloon'. He followed the drive. It was quite long and he imagined it was quite overgrown. Night had now fallen and all he could see was what his headlight illuminated. Finally he rounded a last corner and the headlight illuminated a large building. Harry figured this was the main house.

He parked the bike and approached the front doors. The building looked totally deserted. It was huge. It wasn't a castle or anything, but it was a very grand house; or it was at one time. It looked neglected. No wonder. It had been empty for at least 15 years, probably more.

As Harry approached the door, it opened for him. He figured the recognition of the wards must key into the house somehow. As Harry entered, lights flared in dusty sconces along the wall. Tentatively Harry called out a greeting. "Hello?"

Harry heard a noise to his left. There was a large portrait on the wall of a small-one story cottage. Harry thought it might have been what the house in Godric's Hollow might have looked like before it had been destroyed. A man stepped into the picture.

"Harry? Is that you? Sirius said he would be bringing you by this summer, but I didn't think it would be so late in the summer or so late at night!" The man in the portrait had iron-grey hair that stuck up in the back. Harry felt a slight, inappropriate pang of disappointment. Somehow he had always thought that as he got older, his hair would start to behave. He had a long slender face and he wore a pair of glasses. His eyes were a deep brown and he was dressed in somewhat modern robes. He looked to be in his late 50's. He turned to look back at the cottage and shouted, "Ma! Ma! Young Harry is here!" He turned back to Harry. "Where is your Godfather? I thought I heard his motorcycle."

At that moment, the door opened from the cottage and a woman in what Harry guessed was her mid-50's came out. She was wearing an elegant robe in blue and her black hair was swept up on top of her head. "Will you stop with that awful name!" She looked at Harry. "It's so good to finally meet you, dear. My! You look so much like James." She looked past him. "Now where is that rascal of a Godfather of yours? I have a bone to pick with him that it took him so long to take you here."

"I…I'm afraid that Sirius died last June. Right before school got out." Harry had to explain for the second time that night. The woman gave a shocked gasp and the man went over to her and put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him and buried her face into his shoulder. The man patted her back.

Harry gave them some time to pull themselves back together. Seeing their grief brought his back to the surface. He looked around trying to distract himself. He noticed that everything looked very nicely done, there was just a thick layer of dust on everything. He saw some curtains across the way that opened to a huge picture window. It was too dark to see the view, but he could see the curtains swaying a bit and could hear a buzzing noise coming from them. With his cleaning experience of last year, he knew some doxies had probably moved in. He wondered if any other nasty little things made their way into the abandoned mansion.

This did seem to be a mansion. It was huge. The ceiling was at least 25 feet, and there were double doors leading into other rooms. This entrance hall was probably bigger than all of Grimmauld Place.

Harry heard a clearing of a throat. He turned his attention back to the portrait. They had gotten themselves back under control. The lady spoke. "I apologize for that breakdown. He was like another son to me."

Harry looked to his feet. "I know. I'm sorry, too. I miss him, too."

The man got a puzzled expression on his face. "If he didn't bring you here, how did you get here?"

Harry explained about the AutoPilots on his motorcycle and how by reading his father's journal he put together that 'Ma and Dad' might actually be his grandparents. Harry stopped there. "Er…you are my grandparents? Aren't you?"

The man looked surprised that Harry wasn't sure. "Oh, yes. I guess I never did introduce myself. I'm John Potter and this is Mary, my lovely wife; better known as 'Ma'"

Mary glared at her husband. "Only because you got your son started using that ridiculous name. 'Ma'. Other women get a more dignified 'mother', but me? 'Ma'. I tell you…"

Harry grinned at her rambling. He put a serious look on his face. "You don't need to worry, Ma'am. I won't continue it."

John frowned slightly, but Mary looked up with a look of pleased surprise on her face. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I won't call you 'Ma'…GrandMa." John burst out in laughter as Mary started sputtering.

"You're going to be another just like them! I don't know where they get it from. Wait… yes I do." She glared at her husband. He calmed his laughter.

"We only do it because we love you, dearest. Don't you want to stand out from the rest?" She had a thoughtful look on her face.

"I'm rather glad they did call you 'Ma'. If they hadn't, I might never had tried to use that button and I never would have found this place. I had just assumed it went to Padfoots' mother, and as that's where I stay I wasn't going to push it, until I read that my Dad and Sirius used to call you 'Ma'." Harry saw a flash of something go across her expression.

"Then I won't ever object to it again. I'm glad you found your way here, son." She smiled at him gently.

"I'm Harry. Pleased to meet you."

* * *

Harry spent the next two hours chatting with his grandparents. His Granddad noticed he had called Sirius 'Padfoot' and they chatted about animagus capabilities. He proudly told Harry that his father, Harry's Great-Grandfather had been a Tebo, a magical warthog that could turn invisible. He went on to explain that his abilities had been the main reason this house was so protected. It was unplottable and tracking spells randomly fizzled 100 kilometers out from the property edge or went in false directions. He had become an animagi as a young wizard when his cousin had been bit by a werewolf and he would stay with him during full moons, which is where James had gotten the idea for them to become animagi. The wards weren't as strong as the Fidelius charm that surrounded Grimmauld Place, but it was one of the more highly protected wizarding homes.

His grandparents were quite up to date on current events. It seemed that Sirius had made a few trips out to see them and collect some of James old things for Harry. He had intended to use them as a preview of things to come. He was going to give the box to Harry as soon as school was out, and then when his Dursley time was over, he would take him to the house.

Harry asked if he could get a list of who had access to the house and his grandfather said that the security elf at the gate would have that if he was still alive. Harry mentioned that he had met Gilly and that was how he got in. His grandfather seemed pleased that Gilly was still alive. He had been the strongest elf left when James and Lily went into hiding and so had been stationed as the security guard.

Eventually Harry decided to leave and come back another time. He said goodnight and made his way outside. He drove back to the edge of the property, a good twenty minutes of slow, careful driving around bends and tight turns. At the guard entrance, Harry knocked on the door and Dobby let him in. Gilly had rested while Harry was at the house and Winky had watched over him and straightened up his living area for him, reinforcing some lighting, heating and food supply charms. Harry thought she had connected it somehow with her kitchen at Grimmauld Place. Dobby had gone back into the interrogation area and made it secure again.

Gilly sat back up to attention as Harry came close to him. Harry pulled out a chair and sat down. "Gilly, are you feel up to talking a bit more? I have a few questions. But they can wait if you don't feel up to it now."

Gilly perked up his ears. "Gilly is being much better now, Master Harry. What is what you wants to ask?"

Harry asked where the list of people with access to this property was and Gilly pointed to a small desk. Dobby retrieved it and Harry noticed that the list wasn't very long. Gilly explained that it was a self-updating list. If a person died, their name automatically was removed from the list. Gilly also explained that even if someone was on the list, it didn't mean that they knew where the house was located, only that they had permission to enter if they happened to find the house. Since James had disconnected the floo, Gilly doubted any at all actually knew the location.

Most names Harry didn't recognize. There was one he did, though. Peter Pettigrew. Harry quickly asked how to un-authorize a person and performed it straight away. Remus' name was still on the list, too, but Harry didn't have a problem with that. Harry took a few moments and removed any names he was not familiar with from the list. If it ended being someone who should have access, such as a local vendor he figured he could re-add them later.

When he had finished, Harry turned his attention back to Gilly. "Gilly, are you all right here? Do you want to come back with us?"

Gilly shook his head. "Gilly be staying at his post. Gilly has job to do and Gilly be doing it."

Harry smiled at the old elf and patted his shoulder. "You've done a fine job." Harry turned to Winky. "Is it possible for Gilly to call for help if he needs it?"

Winky nodded. "Winky will listen for Gilly's call if Harry Potter, sir, wants."

Harry nodded. "I'd appreciate that, Winky. Thank you."

* * *

When Harry arrived back at Number 12, he called Winky over to him. He asked how Gilly really was doing.

"Gilly's magic is almost completely gone, sir." Winky said in a small voice, almost as if she felt she was tattling.

"I realize that. I was just wondering if it was some sickness that could be helped or if it was just old age coming on. What happens when a house elf starts to get old and lose his magic?"

"When house elves is losing their magic, they usually only has a year at most to live. It be the Master's decision what happens to them." Winky wouldn't make eye contact with Harry. "Gilly is getting old. His time will be coming soon."

Harry thanked her and went to his room to think.

* * *

The next morning Harry went quickly through his exercises in the trunk, then had breakfast with Dobby and Winky. "I'd like to go back today and see it in the light, but I don't think it would be safe for me to fly. Would one of you be willing to bring me there?"

Both house elves were eager to help Harry go back there again. Both were also curious about this new house and wanted to see it for themselves. Harry went upstairs and snuck his Firebolt out of his room. Phineas didn't seem to be in his portrait, but Harry wasn't taking any chances.

He met up with the elves in the kitchen and they all went to the Potter Estate. They checked in with Gilly first. Gilly seemed much recovered and was happy to see them as well. Harry offered to let him come along on their tour of the estate if he wanted, but Gilly declined. He said he wanted to stay at his post. Harry suspected that Gilly knew it would take too much out of him to do that much walking.

Harry told the elves that he wanted to fly over the grounds and would meet them at the house. Both nodded and popped away. Harry got on his Firebolt for the first time in close to a year. As the ground fell away Harry took a good look around. With the advantage of height, Harry could see the outline of the property. It wasn't too difficult to tell where the edges were, because there was an abrupt change from well-tended and cared for to almost jungle-like. Harry imagined that at one time it had been gorgeous, but that time was some years back. There was a lawn area directly in front of the house, big enough to play Quidditch over. Surrounding what had been the lawn was a wild jungle of overgrown plants and trees. Harry thought there may have been some gardens or walking paths. He was happy to see that the twenty minute ride to the entrance was more due to the winding driveway than to actual distance. Directly behind the house were cliffs that fell to the sea. In the bright sunlight, Harry could appreciate the view. The house appeared to have been built on one side of an area where the sea dug into the land. The house side was a bit lower than the other side.

With the general setting in his mind, Harry flew to the house and landed near the entry. As Harry approached the opening door he looked up and froze.

"Oh, wow!" The view Harry saw through the back windows was more than impressive. As the house had been built on one side of the cove, the back had a view of not only the sea, but also of the impressive cliffs. The picture window took up the whole of the back wall.

Dobby and Winky were there as well and enjoyed watching Harry's reaction. His grandparents were also watching him with smiles on their faces. Mary was the one who commented. "That view never failed to take my breath away as long as I lived here."

Harry dragged his eyes away from the view and turned to the portrait. "Hello, Granddad, Grandma." His eyes sparked with a bit of laughter at the automatic wince of his grandmother. "If you liked this place so much, why did you choose Godric's Hollow to be painted by?"

"This is where we lived. Godric's Hollow is where we remember how best to live. Living here can blind you to how life really is. Godric's Hollow is a simple place. Most family members used it as a honeymoon cottage or vacation home. There are no house elves there and life is considerably rougher for your average wizard. That roughness helped keep our focus and kept our heads a little smaller." John gave a small laugh. "We probably should have taken James with us more often when he was younger. We used it more as a get-away for the two of us and he was left behind for short weekends. In his Hogwarts years I believe Lily used to consider him a tad big-headed."

Harry gave a snort. "Yeah. I have to admit this is a far cry from how I grew up." Harry thought you couldn't get much different between this and a cupboard under some stairs.

John kept shooting glances towards the two elves, especially Winky. Harry suddenly recalled himself. "Have you been introduced. Dobby, Winky, these are my Grandparents, John and Mary Potter."

His grandfather cut in to say, "We introduced ourselves earlier. Why don't you start looking around. I'm sure we can talk later. We don't want to take up all your time again like we did last night."

Harry nodded and bid them a farewell and started poking around in the rooms with Dobby and Winky. He mostly wanted to get an overall layout of the house in his head. He'd have time to go through details of each room at some later date.

There were three floors and an attic. The ground floor had the formal dining room, kitchen, a fancy loo, ball room and a games/weapons room with several animal heads that Harry had never seen before. He figured some of them must have been magical creatures. He thought he recognized a Nundu leopard, like the kind that had breathed poisonous gas on Neville's uncle. All the furniture was covered with sheets and everywhere was a thick layer of dust. Behind the kitchens were an almost hidden area from the rest of the house. Harry thought that it seemed to be housing for the house elves and laundry facilities. There were long work tables and a row of small rooms with beds and tiny chests of drawers. Winky and Dobby were impressed with the area.

Rising up one of the two long staircases to the second floor, Harry found several more rooms. There was a more comfortable living room and eating area with a great view of the cliffs, a library, office and a gymnasium with a dueling platform. The third floor seemed to mostly be bedrooms. All had en-suite bathrooms. The master bedroom was very large and consisted of several rooms by itself. One room was obviously a nursery and still had many toys put carefully on the shelves in an attached play room. Harry was getting a feeling of unreality. It was totally unbelievable that he might have been raised to accept this as a normal place to live.

The attic was full of trunks. It was all very neat and orderly. There was an owlery along one side of the attic. It was very neat except for the dust and didn't smell. It obviously hadn't been used in a very long time and must have had a thorough cleaning after the last time it had been used.

Two hours had gone by before the 'fast' tour was over. Harry asked if Winky could pop back to Grimmauld Place and make them some lunch. Harry thought they could share the lunch with Gilly. Harry had some more questions he wanted to ask each of the house elves and thought they could enjoy a lunch while he did.

Winky agreed and with a crack, was gone. Harry got his broom and Dobby popped away. Harry enjoyed the brief flight over the grounds back to the guard house.

* * *

Winky was already there when Harry reached the small house. She had lunch spread out on the table and Dobby and Gilly were already sitting there. The table and chairs were small in size and Harry felt like he imagined an adult must feel sitting at a Primer school table. Gilly kept shooting glances between Harry and the other two elves. He obviously wasn't sure about the master eating with the house elves, but it was also obvious that Winky and Dobby were used to such things so he held his tongue.

They had general conversation during their lunch about what they saw at the house. After they finished their lunch, Harry mentioned his main concern. He wanted their opinions on this next part of the conversation. "You three know a lot more than me about what it takes to run a property. What do you suggest I do? I'll be going back to school and I need to be living at Grimmauld Place mostly during the summer, but I hate the idea of leaving this abandoned. Any suggestions?"

"M…Master Harry is asking for Gilly's suggestions?" The old elf's eyes were wide.

"Yes, Gilly. You have been at this house for a long time. Being the elf in the Guard Shack, you were obviously well trusted by my family. I've only been part of this world for five years. I'm not sure how things happen in households. Yes, I would gladly listen to you."

Gilly's eyes started watering and his hands started to shake. When he spoke, his voice was in a horse whisper. "B…But G…Gilly's m…magic…is g…gone." He hung his head as if waiting for the executioners blow.

"Gilly, that doesn't matter to me. You are more than just magic. You are a trusted part of my family. But I do believe in choice and I give you the choice to stay in my service or freedom. Either way you are welcome to stay here."

Gilly looked up confused. Dobby and Winky leaned over and quickly explained their backgrounds with Harry.

"Gilly prefers to serve, Master Harry."

"And I am happy to have you serve, for as long as you want." At that moment a strange thing happened. Gilly's towel toga blurred and became a dignified uniform, something similar to what Harry had seen in pictures of the Queen's Guard. Dobby and Winky clapped their hands and Harry just looked confused. Gilly looked at his uniform and the tears in his eyes fell down his face. He pulled a handkerchief from his front pocket and stared at it in amazement. In the corner was the same stylized 'P' that was on Winky's dress. His uniform had the same crest he had before. He used the handkerchief to dry his face.

Harry wasn't sure what just happened with the clothing thing, but now that they were distracted with the serving issue, he thought he'd clear some more things up.

"Gilly, this is a request, not an order. I prefer _not_ to be called 'Master'. It's just a personal quirk of mine. I do realize that it is a very common title to use, so I don't mind if there are slip ups from time to time, but I would rather you just use my name. I also have a friend who is working on modifying the enslavement spell for existing serving house elves so that you and any of your children have a choice on whether to serve or if, like Dobby, freedom is preferred it can be obtained by choice of the house elf. Of course, as long as I am master you can always request it of me and I would grant you freedom."

Gilly was making a wheezing, choking noise. Harry thought he might be trying to suppress laughter. Gilly looked up. "Gilly will need not that spell. Gilly prefers service and Gilly is too old for children." His lips twitched again and Harry couldn't help but smile at the amusement of the old house elf.

"Well, that just proves again how much I don't know or understand about the wizarding world." Harry grimaced deprecatingly at his ignorance.

"Oh, 'tis not how the wizarding world is doing things. Old Master John and his ancestors had a tradition of taking older house elves into their service. Elves that is been turned out of their previous positions. But he would only take elves that was past bearing age. Master John did not want enslaved child elves. Many wizarding masters turns out elves when they is past bearing age. They's believes the elves value is less. Yous is very like Master John." The old elf gave an approving look to Harry. Harry smiled under the approval.

Winky decided to get the conversation back on track. "Harry Potter, sir, Winky does not know if we will be able to help with what you is wanting. Winky knows how to run house like Harry Potter's London house, but not this size house. Many house elves be needed here. What you is needing is a head house elf."

Dobby started jumping up and down on his seat. "Dobby knows! Dobby knows just who is good for helping Harry Potter! Dobby heard that Tubow is been released. Tubow would know what to do for estate like this!"

Harry frowned in confusion. "Tubow?"

Winky nodded. "Yes. Tubow would be good for Harry Potter. Tubow ran the Abbott estate. That estate be bigger than this."

"Would Tubow be trustworthy?"

"Oh, yes, sir. Dobby has no doubts about Tubow. Tubow is good house elf."

* * *

Harry had Winky bring him back to Grimmauld Place while Dobby left to search for Tubow. Winky confessed that they may have problems finding Tubow. Winky knew Tubow also, but he had been freed over half a year ago. Chances were he was not in good shape. Harry started wondering if house elves lasted so little after their magic left them mainly because they were usually freed at that point.

The next few days passed with Harry taking trips to the estate with Winky. He always made sure he left from the kitchen where Phineas wouldn't be able to see. He never stayed for more than a couple of hours, but he was able to explore the house in more detail and have more conversations with his grandparents.

Harry explained Hermione's modification of the enslavement spell and John Potter was very impressed. His attitude towards Winky's enslavement was much improved. He had had concerns that Winky could have still borne children who would be automatically enslaved. Harry thought he would like Hermione.

* * *

Dobby found success the following Thursday. He came with Tubow and a young female house elf named Tiz. Tubow was a study in contradictions. He had on a child's tee shirt and shorts. His attitude, however, was quite dignified. Tiz seemed to flutter around him, fussing and worrying over him. Tiz was quite young but had been trained for service at St. Mungo's. She had a very caring attitude and knew quite a lot about taking care of others. Dobby told Harry it was due to her that Tubow stayed as healthy as he was. Tiz had been released from service because she had a slight clumsiness problem.

Dobby had already explained much of Harry's situation so Tubow was prepared for most of Harry's eccentricities. Harry tried to explain a little more what he required of the house elves. He didn't care if they wanted freedom or enslavement; if they wanted pay or not; days off or not; he didn't particularly care how much magic they had. Harry's main concern was that they be loyal to him. He emphasized that this property should be safe, but he was a constant target and he wouldn't put it past Death Eaters to try to get someone, maybe even a house elf, close to Harry. Basically, he just wanted Tubow to be careful when scouting for house elves to work there. Tubow assured him he knew his job. Tubow had a gift of discerning intentions. His gift was not tied to his magic and was as strong as ever. He would be perfect for the position.

Harry showed Tubow and Tiz around along with Dobby, Winky, and even Gilly came along floating on Harry's broom. Tubow was surprised by the housing capacities for the elves. Tubow said he thought the house and grounds could be run efficiently with a third less than the accommodations provided for. Gilly explained how the Potters had taken older house elves in service and not turn out house elves when their magic started to leave and so needed more elves than most estates to cover all the jobs effectively. Harry took that time to explain that with the modification of the spell, age no longer mattered to him.

Gilly proved invaluable in providing information. Even though he was not an 'indoor' elf, he had been to the house many times and knew much of the house and was able to answer many of Tubow's questions.

Towards the end of the tour, Harry asked Winky to fix them some lunch. She popped away and Tiz decided to follow. Harry saw Tubow cringe as she left. He seemed to be mumbling some kind of prayer under his breath.

Everything went well during the lunch. Harry and Tubow decided to fly the grounds after lunch to give Tubow an overview of the outside. He had never flown on a broom before but was willing to give it a try. Harry noticed that Tubow's speech was much more proper than most house elves Harry knew. No that he knew that many. Harry felt comfortable with these two new elves.

After the dinner was over, Harry got on the back of his Firebolt behind Gilly and Tubow and brought Gilly back to the Guard Shack. Harry stayed slow and low to the ground, for Gilly had no interest in going any higher.

After they dropped Gilly off, Harry mentioned that at some point he would like an elf to be hired to help Gilly; not to take his place, but to help him when he requested help. Harry made it clear that he wanted Gilly in charge of that and his position was not to be threatened. Tubow agreed. In fact, he seemed rather unsurprised at the statement.

"Yes, sir. I could tell he is highly honored by you, as is Winky." Harry was confused by the statement, but let it go. They continued with the tour. Harry took Tubow high in the air to get a general layout and then low to the specific places Tubow wanted to see.

Harry also asked questions about Tiz. Tubow mentioned he had met Tiz about a month after he had left his former service. She had just been freed from her job. She started taking care of Tubow from that moment. Tubow seemed a bit embarrassed as he admitted that he had started to let himself go. She convinced him to hang on. Together they traveled. No one wanted Tubow because of his age, but Tiz could sometimes find jobs. Unfortunately she would usually end up breaking something one too many times or tripping too often and she would be given clothes after just a short time. Tubow ashamedly mentioned that in his former position, he, too, would probably have brought things to his masters attention and had her given clothes as well. Then he earnestly turned to Harry and spoke of how she was extremely caring and loyal.

As they headed back for the house, Harry heard a loud wailing coming from the kitchens. He muttered a "Hang on" to Tubow and put the broom in high gear to get back quickly. As they quickly entered the kitchen Harry saw Tiz kneeling on the floor in the midst of broken plates. What horrified Harry was she was banging her head on the floor among the broken shards. Her head was bleeding. Winky was near her, trying to stop the elf from hurting herself more. Harry heard a heavy sigh from behind him as he ran across the broken crockery to the wailing elf. He took her in his arms and carried her away from the mess.

She finally started calming down as Harry restrained her so she couldn't hit herself. The elf's whole attitude showed total dejection. Finally, with hiccupping sobs, she lifted her head and spoke to the sad faced Tubow. "I's tried, Tubow. I's tried my best, but I tripped over a chair leg and dropped the plates. I's sorry. Maybe you can stay."

Harry understood. Tiz thought Harry wouldn't keep her. Harry kneeled in front of her and lifted her head with his hand so she would see his eyes.

"I must have forgotten to mention one other thing about house elves working for me. I don't want them punishing themselves for such trivial things such as broken plates. Plates can be fixed or replaced. I don't like seeing you causing yourself pain. If you're to become my house elf, you will have to stop doing that. Now let's get you fixed up." Tiz and Tubow looked at Harry with wide eyes. Winky stepped forward with a broad smile showing all her teeth and pulled a dazed Tiz away.

Harry grinned over at Tubow. "She reminds me of a lady auror I know. She has a good heart, but her feet keep tripping over anything at all. If housework isn't a strong point for Tiz, could she be a sort of caretaker of the older elves? Making sure they have everything they need to be comfortable?"

Tubow blinked then gathered his composure to answer. "Yes, sir. Tiz has a gift for relating with others of my kind, she just is not so good with handling 'things'. I believe she would do very well at that."

* * *

The rest of the time passed quickly. Harry went through the modified ritual with both Tubow and a bandaged Tiz. Tubow formed a dignified suit with some bars across the shoulder which declared him additional privileges as a head house elf. Tubow had power to authorize others to enter the house. He also had, as did Winky, authorization to charge things from Harry's Gringotts vault. His eyes had widened when Harry performed that part of the ritual. Tiz had a plain white dress with a belt. Both had the Potter crest on the front, but the 'P' insignia on any accessory, such as the belt. Both seemed very happy with the outfits they wore.

A/N – We really like house elves. Onwards to Hogwarts, next chapter!


	7. Back to Hogwarts

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in. 'The Sanguine Scot's' name was pulled from the Australian story "We of the Never Never" by Aeneas Gunn. We're not too good at coming up with cool names.

Chapter 7 Back to Hogwarts

The rest of the time before school started flew by. Remus came to Number Twelve on Saturday to stay for the next full moon the following Tuesday. Harry spent his time between talks with Remus, his trunk and his estate. He searched both libraries for the books on the Animagus transformation that his dad mentioned in the journal. He wanted to bring them along to Hogwarts. He thought several times about telling Remus that he'd found the estate, but didn't quite know how without letting him know he'd been taking the bike out.

Winky's focus returned to Grimmauld Place and her redecoration. Dobby currently split his time between the two locations. Tubow could easily move around the estate, but could not do any long distance apparating (which was why he had been freed). He spent his time grilling Harry when he was there about his likes and dislikes. From foods and drinks to linens on his bed. Harry had no clue so Tubow sent Tiz far and wide collecting samples for Harry to choose from. Harry wasn't so sure about this owning a large house thing. Too many decisions.

Two more house elves had been found in the final week before school. Their outfits became nice serviceable uniforms, but quite plain except for the Potter crest. Harry used Remus' absence on the day after the full moon to spend some more time at the estate and go over how they could contact him when he returned to school. It was agreed that Tubow would have control over everything to run as he saw fit and Harry should only be contacted in case of emergency or if more elves were found. Tiz could contact Dobby who could let Harry know.

Harry made a point of visiting both with his grandparents portrait and with Gilly before he left. He knew this could very well be the last time he had a chance to visit until next summer.

* * *

As Harry made his way through Kings Cross Station on September 1st, he gave another brief pat on the shrunken trunk in his shirt pocket. He heaved a sigh. He really had wanted to shrink the motorcycle and bring it along, but thought that at some point Remus would probably notice that it was gone. Moody prodded him from behind. "Keep it moving, Potter!"

Harry once again had a full guard. It felt strange that he wasn't carrying any luggage. He didn't even have Hedwig's cage since he had let her start on her trip to Scotland several days ago and so had her cage in his trunk. She had been restless with having so little to do all summer that Harry had thought she might enjoy the long trip if she could take it in slow, easy stages.

As Harry went through the barrier at Platform 9 3/4 he looked around for his friends. He was a little surprised to find himself looking for Ginny as much, or even more than his other friends. He was surprised by how much the things she did for him this summer stuck with him. When he was upset about Ron's vision; giving him her stress ball; even spending the time with him exercising. They'd had many interesting conversations while biking and jogging. Then there had been the times he'd given comfort to her. She had felt right in his arms. He wondered what it would be like to date her. He even thought Ron might just be okay with him dating Ginny. He wished he dared ask her if she had been serious about going after Dean.

Harry's guard left him to take up posts around the platform. Harry stepped out of the way to keep watch on the entrance to the platform. Suddenly he heard his name called from the side. Cho had found him.

"Harry! It seems so long since I saw you in Diagon Alley. How have you been doing?" He had seen Cho talking earlier with some other seventh year students and she had seemed okay, but now as she came to give him a hug, he could see tears forming in her eyes. She had a slightly desperate look in her eyes.

"I'm doing fine, Cho. Been keeping busy, ya know? How about you?"

"I'm doing better. We've been moved to a new location so there aren't so many memories. My brother is getting anxious to start Hogwarts himself next year…" Cho stopped. She swallowed hard. "My mum's trying to run the store by herself, but it's not easy for her with having to watch my brother, too. My…my father…always said he couldn't wait for my brother to start Hogwarts. He was sure he'd be sorted in to his old house, Hufflepuff. Mom's worried now, though about the expenses. I've told her that I could stay home this year and help, but she said she could hang on until I finish school and became fully qualified." Her voice broke on the last word.

Harry wanted more than anything to get away. Cho turned her head to Harry's shoulder and burst into tears. Harry patted her back, looking around desperately for some sort of rescue. He didn't know why Cho kept seeking him out when she only ever cried on him. He saw Ernie MacMillan and Hannah Abbott talking to Marietta Edgecomb. They seemed to be trying to convince her of something. She just kept shaking her head and trying to back away. Harry kept looking around. He saw the Weasley's and Hermione had entered the platform. Ron and Hermione were talking rapidly to each other, Hermione's hands gesturing wildly as she was obviously describing something from her trip. Ginny was with them. She caught Harry's eye. Harry couldn't tell what she was thinking. Suddenly her lips firmed and she turned and walked away. Harry groaned. They were obviously not coming to his aid. He glanced around again. Hannah seemed to be getting upset with Marietta. Finally Ernie pounced on Roger Davies who was walking past and started a quick conversation with him. Hannah left Marietta and joined them. Roger looked over at Harry and Cho and tilted his head as if thinking. Then he gave a nod.

Roger Davies strode over to Harry and Cho. Cho had finally gotten herself back together. Harry gave her something to blow her nose. She stepped back as Roger approached.

"Cho. Glad I found you. I don't know if you've heard, but I'm Head Boy this year and I'd like to ask you about something before the prefect meeting starts. Would you mind coming with me for a minute?"

Cho agreed and with one last lingering look at Harry, drifted away with Roger.

Harry heaved a big sigh of relief. He saw Ernie and Hannah heading towards him. They both had a bit of a smirk on their face.

"All right there, Potter?" Ernie started. "It looked as if you wanted a hand."

"Yeah, I did. Thanks. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not so good in those situations."

Hannah looked curious. "What was that all about, if you can tell us."

"You hear what happened to her father this summer?" Both nodded their heads solemnly. "Well, I think seeing me brings it all back for her. The Dementors; teaching the Patronus…" Harry wasn't going to mention the financial problems her mother was having.

"We saw her earlier. She was okay then, but she was obviously looking for you."

Harry just shook his head. "I don't know why. I think she's dating Michael Corner now. I don't think Cho and I have ever had a one on one conversation that didn't end with her crying."

Hannah looked amazed. "Really? Weren't you dating last year?"

Harry's eyes got a sad, far-off look in them. "Kind of. But then I reminded her of Cedric."

Ernie and Hannah became quiet, too. Cedric had been in their house. Their whole house felt the loss when he had been killed.

Ernie brought himself back to the present. "Well, maybe avoidance will be the way to go this year. Eh? Oh, there's Susan. I want to give her a hello before we have to get to the prefect's meeting. Save me a seat, Hannah? There's a good girl." Without even waiting for a reply, he took off across the platform. Harry's eyes followed him. Near Susan was Ginny. It was obvious from her body language she was flirting with someone. Harry narrowed his eyes. The boy had his back to Harry. When he shifted Harry could tell it was Dean Thomas. Well, so much for thinking about dating Ginny.

Harry gave a deep sigh. He was surprised to hear it being given simultaneously from the girl by his side. Harry and Hannah looked at each other in surprise. She looked back over where Ernie was standing.

"The Weasley girl?"

"Ernie?"

"Yes. We've been friends forever. Even long before Hogwarts. Our parents live in the same neighborhood. But I'm a friend. He _likes_ Susan." Hannah seemed a little downcast.

Since she opened up to him, he figured he should do the same. "Ginny had a crush on 'The Boy Who Lived' even before she met me. I'll admit that the first few years I knew her, I hardly spoke a word to her and when I did, she would just run away. But the last year or so the crush seemed to fade and I actually got to see some of her personality. Then this past summer we actually spent quite a bit of time together, but she had mentioned she was interested in Dean now…" Harry shrugged.

Hannah gave a commiserating smile. "Quite the pair, aren't we? The timing's never quite right, is it?" She frowned. "You know, I guess I never thought about it before. You must run into a lot of people with preconceived ideas of who or what you are, don't you?"

Harry gave a resigned smile. "Try everyone. The first thing that happens the first few times I meet anyone is the eyes to the forehead." Harry gave a tap to his scar. Hannah had a thoughtful look on her face.

The Hogwart's Express chose that time to give a warning whistle. Hannah jumped. "Oh, I've got to get to the Prefect's carriage. There's a meeting you know."

Harry nodded. "I know. See you around."

Hannah headed for the front of the train while Harry headed for the back.

* * *

In looking for a compartment, Harry saw Ginny with a bunch of other sixth year girls. Harry found room in a compartment that only had Neville and Luna in it. They gladly let him join them and they spent some time talking about what they did with the rest of their summers. Harry didn't mention anything about the estate or his adventures on the Triumph, but avoided the topic by asking if Luna's father found any Snorkacks.

"We didn't find any Crumpled-horned Snorkacks, but we did find a herd of Mooncalves. Father was able to record their dances for a whole week until he ate a Mackled Malaclaw. Father thought it was a lobster, of course. It was quite a task getting him through muggle areas when he was delirious with fever, green skin and both of us carrying sacks of silvery mooncalf dung. It has quite a glow to it. People kept pointing at us and screaming 'alien'. It was the silliest thing. Of course, they seemed spooked already. Did you know they have a name for the areas left by the mooncalves dance? They call them 'crop circles'. Isn't that funny? The mooncalves don't always dance in just circles. They form all sorts of patterns! But they call them all 'crop circles'." Luna seemed quite perplexed by this muggle phenomena.

Harry chuckled quietly to himself. He could just imagine how muggles would react already spooked by the designs left in their fields seeing a green man walking through town with glowing silver shining from his clothes apparently muttering to himself.

Neville, on the other hand, was quite interested in the mooncalf dung. "What is your father planning to do with the dung?"

"Oh, I don't know. He didn't really say. He'll probably just add it to the collection of other souvenirs we've collected on our travels." Luna looked unconcerned. A moment later, as if Neville's interest finally registered, she tilted her head and looked at him. "Why? Are you interested in it?"

Neville's eyes lit up. "It's a great fertilizer for magical herbs. It can make them grow much faster than normal. Of course I'm interested. Professor Sprout would be, too."

Luna kept her unblinking stare on Neville for another minute and then slowly nodded her head. "I'll write to Daddy. I'll ask him to send some to you."

Neville started to back off. "You don't have to do that. If he's willing to sell some, I would gladly pay for it."

"No. Half of it's mine. I'll give it to you." With that Luna finished her conversation and pulled out her Quibbler and started to read it. Neville kept looking at her with his mouth slightly open.

Harry and Neville passed the time talking and playing a game of Wizarding Chess. It was much more even between them than playing against Ron.

Ron and Hermione finally joined them after the Prefect's meeting. Hermione was dragging Ginny behind them. "Look who we found. Finally. Hello, Harry. How was the end of your summer?"

Harry just mumbled a fine, and Hermione was off. She described how a ruined temple in Athens used charms, similar to the ones on Hogwarts. They allowed the ruins to be used as a tourist attraction, but used charms to keep muggles away from certain parts where the entrance to their wizarding community was. She mentioned that most of the muggle ruins had some type of wizarding connection.

All while Hermione was talking, Harry kept glancing at Ginny. She seemed to be avoiding his gaze. Harry wondered why.

Finally Hermione started running out of steam. Harry asked how Romania was. Ron and Ginny started their description of what they saw on their travels. The only time Ginny glanced at Harry was when Ron suddenly mentioned he dreamed about Harry one night.

"It was strange. I don't normally remember dreams and nothing really happened in it. I just dreamed I woke up and you were there." Ron frowned then shook his head.

Ginny looked at Harry. Harry looked down at his hands. After just a moment he forced himself to look up at Ron. "Strange, that." Hermione gave him a sharp look.

Ron just shrugged. "Yeah. Anyway, speaking of you, what was with that scene with Cho? You together again?"

Harry took in a breath to answer but Ginny cut him off. She jumped up and said, "I want to go see if I can find Dean."

Ron scowled at her as she left the compartment. "Don't know what she sees in him."

Harry said quietly, "Ron, Dean's a good guy. Anyway. I'm not sure what was with Cho. I think she's dating Michael Corner."

Hermione joined the conversation. "Apparently she's not dating him anymore. I'm not sure who broke off with whom, but at the Prefect's meeting, Padma told me that Terry Boot told her that Michael told him that all Cho would talk of was you this summer."

"Me? Why me?" Harry was confused.

"I'm not sure. She said Michael had said that he was sick of hearing how brave and smart and strong you are. He is not too fond of you right now."

Ron was snickering at the description of Harry. Harry, himself, was blushing and feeling uncomfortable. "I only saw her once this summer and she cried over me then, too!"

Ron had a full chuckle going now. "Maybe you've got yourself a stalker, Harry. At least it's a pretty one." His laughter grew even louder. Hermione harrumphed, crossed her arms and turned her back to Ron.

Harry gave a half-smile and shook his head at Ron. "I don't know…I think I prefer Colin with his picture taking. At least he doesn't cry all over me all the time."

Hermione frowned at them both. "It's not a laughing matter."

Harry felt a little bad. He knew Cho was hurting. "I know that, Hermione. Sorry." He tried to change the subject. "So, has anyone practiced wandless magic this summer?"

Luna joined in. "I have. Look." She levitated her upside-down Quibbler, focused, made the page turn, and brought it back to her hands. She looked at them with a proud expression on her face.

Harry had thought of a little more practical practicing, but supposed that for Luna, that was a practical use. He clapped his hands for her. Neville also demonstrated his advancement. Ron frowned. He hadn't had a chance to practice since they'd been under his mother's eye until the end of summer. Hermione, too, didn't have too much of a chance to practice.

After a while, Ron and Hermione left to do their Prefect round. The compartment lapsed into silence as Neville and Harry both joined Luna in reading.

After half an hour, the compartment door slid open. Harry looked up just in time to see a purple hex shooting at him. He couldn't raise his wand in time so he sent a wandless shield to deflect the hex. Where it hit the wall a nasty smell and some smoke rose in the air forming a small cloud. Within a second he was standing in a defensive position with his wand out. But there were no more spells.

"Did you see who that was, Neville?"

Neville sat wide-eyed and shook his head. "Sorry, Harry. I couldn't see."

There were footsteps heard coming rapidly down the hall. Susan and Ernie came to the doorway. Ernie strode in first. "Everyone all right in here? We saw Malfoy running away from here and suspected something was up."

"Malfoy. Figures."

Neville stood up. "Well, whatever that was he aimed at you is beginning to stink. I can take care of that. _Scourgify_!"

Harry tried to stop him. "Neville! No!" But it was too late. The spell hit the spot on the wall and it smoked twice as much. It was a visible purple-green and even though it was still clouding on the other side of the compartment, the smell was rancid. Harry quickly threw a spell to open the train windows and literally pushed Neville and Luna into the hall. He slammed the door shut behind them. He sealed it with a _colloportus_.

Harry turned to Neville. "You have Trevor?"

"Yeah. What was that?"

"It was the Nidor spell. I read about a shorter version of the spell this summer. Any skin the vapor touches will hold the smell for hours. The shorter version only holds it for about 10 minutes. Just enough to get away, hopefully."

"That smelled awful. I can't imagine having that smell on you for hours." Neville looked horrified.

"That wasn't even the full strength. If that cloud had actually touched your skin, it soaks right in. It can literally incapacitate you. Nothing gets rid of it, either. Scourgify only amplifies it. Bubble head charms don't help since because it comes out of your pores, it just fills the bubble with the smell. All you can do is wait for it to wear off."

"What about our stuff? It's all still in there." Neville was looking worried.

"No worries. It only absorbs into skin. The trunks should be fine. I can lend you something for the feast." Harry enlarged his trunk and pulled out a set of robes for himself and for Neville. Harry looked at Luna. His Gryffindor robes wouldn't work for her. She was a Ravenclaw. Harry looked at Hannah. She shrugged.

"If you don't mind a Hufflepuff badge, you can borrow one of my robes." Luna looked resigned.

"I'll be fine. It won't be the first time I've not had my proper robes. Usually it's just because they're hidden from me though. At least this time I know it wasn't aimed at me." Luna gave a half-sad smile to Harry.

Harry frowned at the reminder of how her house-mates treated her. "I'll figure something out for you, Luna."

Ernie straightened up. "Well, I dare say you will all need to find other compartments to use for the remainder of the journey. Not too much more to go, thank Merlin. So even if it gets a bit cramped it won't be for long." He started them back up the hall.

The first compartment that looked promising was one that had Dean, Seamus, Ginny, Parvati and Lavender in it. There was a brief explanation of how their compartment was unusable and were invited to join theirs. Harry shifted uncomfortably. He really didn't want to spend the rest of the trip watching Ginny flirting with Dean.

Cho happened to be coming down the hall and had stopped when she saw Harry and listened in on the problem. "Oh, it looks quite crowded in here if you add Neville and Loony. Why don't you join me in my compartment, Harry?" She had that pleading look in her eyes again.

Harry let himself be dragged out of the compartment and down the hall for a ways before he stopped. "You know, Cho, I really appreciate the offer, but I have something I need to talk over with Hannah and Ernie. But you could do me a big favor."

"Anything, Harry." Her eyes recovered from the disappointment with the anticipation of doing a favor for Harry.

"Luna Lovegood won't be able to get to her robes before the feast. Could you loan her a set for tonight? She could return them to you later on."

"You want _me_ to loan a set of _my_ robes to Loony Lovegood?" The incredible note in her voice and the scrunch of her nose did not endear her to Harry. Harry had an idea of who one of the girls who actively picked on Luna was now.

"Lun_a_" Harry stressed the last syllable, "was hurt by Death Eaters last year trying to help me. She is a very nice girl. One who I hate to think is picked on by others because of her different outlook on life."

Cho bit her lip. "Of course, I'll loan her a set of robes. And I'm sure any problems she has will stop this year. I'll help keep an eye on her for you. Er…she's a _friend_, right?" Cho's eyes had a hard gleam in them.

Harry frowned. Of course she was his friend. What did she mean? "Yeah. She's my friend. Same as the others."

Cho's smile brightened. "I'll go get those robes right now." and she skipped off down the hall.

Hannah was biting her lip and shaking her head. Harry could see she was trying to hold in her laughter. "Oh, Harry. You just blew it. You should have implied she was more than a friend."

Harry's eyes widened. "You mean…she was asking…?"

"Yeah. She was checking out competition." Hannah was openly laughing now.

"Well, shoot." Harry was disgusted with himself for not catching on earlier, but then he had a thought. "It wouldn't have been right to use Luna that way anyway. She has problems enough in her house without adding jealousy or whatever it is to it."

Cho came right back carrying a set of robes. "Here you go, Harry. Feel free to come by my compartment when you're done with your talk. Okay?"

Harry gave an awkward smile, knowing there was no way he would. "I'll keep it in mind."

* * *

Harry had brought the robes back to Luna. When he told Luna who they were from, she looked at them as though they might explode in her face. Ginny's face seemed to cloud over with a thundercloud. Harry wondered if she was mad at him for getting robes for Luna from someone who had made Luna's life difficult. But he hadn't known that before he asked. So how could she blame him?

Harry made his way back up the train, following Hannah. Ernie had gone on to find Ron and Hermione to let them know not to return to the compartment. Since they had patrol duty until the reached Hogsmeade, it wasn't a big deal to them. They already had their robes on. They had put them on before they went on patrol.

Harry thanked Hannah again for letting him impose on them. Hannah smiled and said it was no problem. She wouldn't mind the company anyway. Harry saw what she meant when they reached the compartment. Ernie was there as well as Susan, Justin, Zacharias Smith and another Harry didn't know. Harry was introduced to Megan Jones. Harry smiled and waved his hand. Sure enough, first thing Megan did was look at his scar. Megan was in his year, but they had never really talked before.

Harry sat next to Hannah. She was trying to avoid watching Ernie flirt with Susan. "I see what you mean about meeting people. Megan's gone to school with you for five years, but the first time getting close, she still looks for your scar. I hadn't really believed it until I saw it. How do you stand it?"

Harry shrugged. "What can I do about it? I can't control other people's reactions."

Hannah suddenly looked up. "Hey, Harry. Does Hermione Granger still do that SPEW thing?"

Ernie looked up from where he was talking to Susan. "Oh, not again, Hannah. Leave it be! It was just a house elf!"

"He was not 'just a house elf'! I'm worried about him, okay?" Hannah turned back to Harry. "Does she? Does she track freed house elves?" Ernie shook his head and turned back to his conversation with Susan.

"She doesn't track freed house elves. What she would like is to free _all_ house elves. But she's learned that not all of them can handle freedom. Why?"

Hannah seemed to deflate. Harry's mind started putting things together. Hannah _Abbott_. Winky saying Tubow ran the Abbott estate.

"Is this about Tubow?" Harry tentatively asked.

Hannah's head came up so fast Harry was afraid she would get a crick in her neck. "You've seen him? How is he?"

"He's fine. He met up with another house elf who took care of him. They both came to work for me a couple of weeks ago." Harry was speaking quietly. Not even his friends knew this part.

Hannah breathed a sigh of relief. "I've been so worried. I mean I knew he was getting older, but I _never_ thought my father would just turn him out like that. I mean, he's just always been there for me. Whenever I had problems, he'd listen and be there for me. I just couldn't believe it when he was gone when I got home this summer. I've heard house elves don't last long once they're freed and I've been so worried all summer. You'll treat him all right, right? I mean, the whole DA saw how fanatical that one strange house elf is towards you so you must treat him okay."

"Dobby used to belong to the Malfoy family. I was able to trick Malfoy Sr. into freeing him several years ago. Dobby enjoys his freedom. It was actually Dobby who found Tubow for me."

"If Granger wants all house elves free, how does she feel about you having house elves?"

Harry went on to explain about Winky and how Hermione worked on modifying the spell so the house elves always have a choice. He told how she was looking into modifying the spell for currently enslaved house elves. Hannah listened, but Harry could see she didn't think it would really fly.

Harry asked if she could keep Tubow being at his house quiet for now. That no one except Dobby at Hogwarts knew about it yet and he hadn't even told Ron and Hermione about finding his Grandparent's house yet. Hannah agreed but Harry could see questions in her eyes about how he must live during the summer if he was concerned about people at Hogwarts, apparently the Headmaster, no less, finding out he 'found' his Grandparent's house. How do you 'find' a house anyway?

Harry's respect for Hannah increased when she managed not to ask all the questions obvious in her eyes. She had more restraint than he had. He liked talking to her. As the train pulled into Hogsmeade Harry decided he was quite glad he had been able to keep her distracted from Ernie's attentions to Susan as well. Maybe they'd talk again sometime.

* * *

As Harry disembarked from the Hogwarts Express, familiar sights and sounds hit him. He could hear Hagrid calling for the first years. He lifted a hand in greeting to him. Hagrid gave a wave back. Harry made his way to the carriages. He stopped and looked at the skeletal black horses that pulled them. His gaze pulled away when he heard his name being called.

"Harry! Over here, mate!" Ron was standing by an open carriage. Harry made his way over to him, glancing at the Thestral that pulled the carriage. He wondered if it was one of the six that brought him and his friends to the Ministry last year. Ron glanced towards where Harry was looking. "Is it one of them from last year?"

"Can't tell. I can't tell them apart yet." He squinted his eyes, focusing on two different bat-winged horses. "There are differences. I just didn't notice last year."

Ron shrugged and they got in. Hermione was already inside along with Luna and Neville. The coach made its way up to the castle.

Entering the Great Hall seemed like another coming home for Harry. Even with how bad the last school year was, Hogwarts was still the first place he had been able to get away from the Dursley's and that forgave a lot.

He looked around. Malfoy was holding court telling some amusing tale to those close to him at the Slytherin table. Suddenly, one of his listeners broke in and pointed to Harry. Draco turned with a grin that turned into a scowl as he saw Harry having no odor problems. Harry gave a mocking salute and continued to his table. Draco now looked furious and some of the Slytherins were laughing at him.

He gazed up at the enchanted ceiling as he took a seat at the Gryffindor table. The darkening sky was clear and he could just begin to see some stars shining through.

Neville, Ron and Hermione joined him. Ginny sat further along between some other fifth years but still within easy talking range with Dean. Ron looked over and scowled again. Harry saw Hermione glance at him, then saw Ron wince as she apparently kicked him under the table. Harry imagined Hermione spoke to him about his attitude while they made their Prefect rounds.

Harry glanced up at the Head Table. Most of the professors where there, except, of course, Professor McGonagall who would lead the first years in to be sorted. Harry noted the new teacher sitting next to Professor Snape. It was a mid-aged witch wearing Trelawney-like glasses.

Harry nudged Ron. "New DADA teacher, you reckon?"

Ron glanced up to squint at the Head Table. "Yeah. I wonder who she is."

The doors from the entrance hall opened. Professor McGonagall led the scared first years in. As they reached the front of the hall, Professor McGonagall set the stool down with the Sorting Hat on it.

The crowd hushed as the hat began its song:

_In times gone by, _

_So long ago, _

_Hogwarts was one, _

_Not friend and foe._

_Then strife came near, _

_Saw a dear one depart, _

_The school was weakened, _

_Which saddens the heart._

_I've warned in the past _

_To come together once more, _

_But though there's a start _

_Something's still wrong at the core. _

_Though students be divided _

_Into houses four, _

_Know the school must be one _

_To continue into lore. _

_So put me on your head _

_And let your mind be seen _

_I'll tell if you've the craftiness, _

_To belong to Silver and Green. _

_Then again for the clever mind _

_That's really on the ball, _

_Blue and Bronze may be your fit _

_And become your home to call. _

_If you're gallant and courageous, _

_Red and Gold is yours to wear, _

_But for the enduring and steadfast _

_Yellow and Black will color your lair. _

_The Sorting Hat I am, _

_I know what I must do, _

_So put me on, and hold me tight, _

_And I'll sing where to put you. _

Harry clapped with the rest of the school. He thought of the song. 'Something wrong at the core?' He knew what that was. Slytherin. Hermione had that analytical look on her face. Suddenly her face lit up.

"The Sorting Hat mentioned us!" She had an amazed look on her face.

That got Ron's attention. "What?"

"Dumbledore's Army. 'But though there's been a start,' Dumbledore's Army started uniting the houses!" Her face frowned again. "But…'Something still wrong at the core.' It's not enough."

"It's just a song, Hermione." Ron was paying more attention to his plate, waiting for his food.

"I don't think so, Ron. Maybe we're supposed to add Slytherins to the DA?" This last part came out uncertain.

"I don't bloody well think so. I think 'wrong to the core' is a pretty apt description of their whole house! Besides, the DA doesn't exist anymore, does it?"

"They can't all be bad. They're people just like us. They have emotions and ambitions just like us."

Harry was only half listening to Ron and Hermione's argument as 'Avery, Michelle' was sorted into Slytherin. The hat was currently deciding the fate of 'Brunhold, Joseph' as Harry's mind flashed back to his own sorting with the hat wanting to put him in Slytherin. Why had the Sorting Hat wanted to put him in Slytherin? Was it the 'thirst to prove himself'? That's what it said while he was under it.

"Ambitions to be Death Eaters!" Ron was continuing the argument. Harry automatically started clapping as the rest of his table did as a young first year ran down to it.

What was it Dumbledore had said were Slytherin traits? Parseltongue, resourcefulness, determination, disregard for rules…None of those really seemed that bad of traits to have. Well, maybe some would disagree on the rules one. Harry thought he was getting better at that, though. Well, maybe not. He did take the bike out and…Well, maybe not.

Harry turned his attention back to the sorting as 'Silverman, Sally' was sorted into Ravenclaw. Harry clapped at the appropriate times as the rest of the first years were sorted.

When it was finished, the Headmaster of Hogwarts rose to his feet. He lifted his hands in greeting. "Welcome, welcome, one and all. Now that the sorting has finished, tuck in." The tables filled with food.

All through the meal, Harry listened to the squabbling between Ron and Hermione. It didn't have any bite to it as it sometimes did in the past. It actually seemed like a comfortable routine for them. Half the time, Harry didn't think Ron really disagreed with Hermione but only disagreed to keep her going. Harry sometimes wondered if Hermione really meant what she said either. He wondered if she really felt the Slytherins were just the same or if she said it only because she knew Ron would react to it.

Ron broke out of their argument. "Hey, Harry. You'll never guess who the Head Boy and Girl are."

"I know Roger Davies is Head Boy. He saved me from Cho earlier. Who's the Head Girl?"

"A Slytherin! Something Fletcher, I think they said. Doesn't seem right, that!" Ron seemed right offended that a Slytherin was given the honor of the position.

Harry shrugged. It didn't matter much to him.

The food was delicious as always and they finished will full stomachs. Finally Dumbledore got to his feet again.

"If I could have a few moments of your time now that we are all nice and full from this wonderful feast. I have a few start of term notices…"

The Headmaster continued mentioning the ever growing forbidden item list in Filch's office, the typical forbidden forest being forbidden, no magic in the corridors, Quidditch trials for the house teams. Finally he introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Vigori.

Finally students were dismissed. Ron had given Harry the password earlier and he took some shortcuts up to the dorm rooms. Harry expanded his trunk and got settled for the night. It was good to be back.

* * *

Early the next morning, Harry made his way to the common room and he and his friends went to the Great Hall for breakfast. Professor McGonagall handed the time tables out. He looked at his time table. He wouldn't be having DADA until Wednesday. He was curious on how the new professor would teach the subject. Harry had two of his new classes today, Finance and Potions. They were right before lunch. Classes went well. NEWT Herbology was similar to classes in the past.

Finance was on the same level as the Firenze's classroom, near the Great Hall. On the way to the class, Harry saw Professor Dumbledore in the Great Hall talking to a goblin. He looked very serious and Harry thought the look he gave the students going towards the Finance class was a nervous look.

Harry was just about to enter the room when his name was called. "Mr. Potter, a word, please."

Harry looked up to see Firenze standing near the door to his own classroom. Harry walked over to him. "Mr. Potter. The stars have shown me that many beings and creatures are at a crossroads. The time is near for decisions to be made. Many will be looking to you." With those words he turned and went back into his classroom, leaving Harry confused. What kind of creatures would be asking him to make their decisions?

Ron was with him in Finance. Harry was surprised to find the instructor was the goblin. Not just any goblin, but Griphook was teaching the class. Harry had met Griphook on his first trip to Diagon Alley many years ago.

The class wasn't so large, but when Griphook walked in, Harry heard a disgusted sound behind him. He turned and saw a Slytherin boy was speaking to a classmate sitting beside him. "What is this school coming to? A centaur last year, now a goblin? What next? House elves?" It was clear from his tone, he no longer had any expectations of learning anything worthwhile in this class. He gathered his books and walked out of the class. The Slytherin girl he was talking to stayed, however.

Harry saw Griphook's eyes on the exchange. As the student left, he smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. Harry thought it seemed a bit feral. His eyes were cold.

Griphook started the class and from the opening statements Harry could tell this would not be an easy class. There would be no tolerance for any sloppy work. Harry and Ron filled page after page with notes on what was to come.

As the class ended, Griphook called Harry to stay after. "Mr. Potter, you were surprised to see me when I came in. You did not think a goblin could teach a wizard?"

Harry blinked. "No, that wasn't it. I mean, who could teach managing money better than a goblin?" Griphook's head jerked slightly in surprise. "I was surprised that you would be willing to teach is all. I didn't think goblins would consent to teach wizards. I also was surprised that you were you. I mean, I've met you before. I haven't met many goblins, but you helped me on my first trip to Gringotts."

Griphook's looked as if he was considering his words. "You speak well, young Potter." Harry was surprised. He thought what he had meant to say came out quite rough to say the least. "You are correct that goblins have always refused the invitations to teach before. Let's just say that we are interested in this generation of wizards and how they think. I was chosen because I have more tolerance with wizards than many of my kind." He gave Harry a thoughtful look then said, more to himself than to Harry, "I think I will consent to teach this class. Yes. It could bear watching. You may go Mr. Potter."

Harry gave another nod and left the room. He saw Professor Dumbledore waiting at the doorway. He looked intently at Griphook and Griphook nodded back to him. The Headmasters face broke into a smile and the twinkle brightened considerably. Harry continued to his next class wondering what that was all about.

* * *

Harry and Ron had their first Secondary Potions class after Finance. This class was being taught by a young, dark-haired witch and while still being taught in the dungeons, the room was much brighter and seemed much more cheerful than Snape's classroom. This class was starting with going over some basics on theory of how ingredients are classified and why and when they work (or don't work) together. If this was review, Harry wondered where he was for that class where they originally learned it. Harry thought he might do all right in this class.

At the end of the class, Harry and Ron headed for lunch. Ron was busy telling Hermione about their new classes they had. Ron seemed quite excited. Especially about the Finance class. Harry thought Ron might do really well in that class. His family might not have much money, but Ron was excellent at planning things and strategizing and this class sounded like it would contain quite a lot of that.

Harry finished his lunch and started to make his way back to the tower to get his Care of Magical Creature stuff when he was sidetracked by Cho.

"Hi, Harry, I'm sorry you weren't able sit with me on the train. Maybe we can get together later?"

Harry didn't know what it was, but he was just feeling uncomfortable around Cho now. Last year he was interested in Cho and she was interested in him, but something in her eyes was different this year. It wasn't interest as much as…well, he didn't know what it was, but it made him uncomfortable. "Yeah, maybe. I…I've got to get my books now for my next class."

Cho smiled and started, "Maybe I could walk with you…"

She was cut off by a, "Hiya, Harry. Could we talk to you for a minute?"

Harry looked over Cho's shoulder and saw Colin Creevey and a few other fifth years, including Ginny Weasley. She wouldn't look at him, though.

"Hey, Colin. Cho, you don't mind, do you?"

It was obvious that she did mind, but she graciously excused herself. Ron was walking past on his way to the tower. Under his breath so only Harry could hear he said, "Saved from Stalker #2 by Stalker #1." Harry could hear his laughter as Harry glared at him.

Harry turned to Colin. "Can we talk on the way to the tower? I've got to get my books."

"No problem, Harry." As they started moving, Colin was nudged by some of the others. "Er…we were wondering if you were planning to start the DA again?"

Harry frowned. "I hadn't thought to. This years teacher can't be as bad as last years, can she?"

"We had her this morning. It's not that she's bad so much…When do you have her?" Colin didn't seem to know how to describe the new teacher. Harry's curiosity was peaked.

"Not until Wednesday. Why?"

Colin seemed to be running out of what he'd planned to say. "Maybe you could think about it? Just…just keep in mind that several of us wouldn't mind extra lessons again."

"I'll keep it in mind, Colin." With that, Harry could escape up to the tower to get his books.

* * *

The students were taken out to the paddock for Care of Magical Creatures. The paddock was overgrown with tall grasses. There appeared to be a heating charm surrounding it as well. Hagrid came out of his cabin with a wide smile of greeting for the students. Harry, Ron and Hermione all had smiles for him, too.

"Welcome back fer another year. This year I've got summat good fer yeh to start wi'. I reckon this creature's going to be on NEWTs an' we're lucky to have borrowed us one fer a time." With that, Hagrid entered the paddock. The students lined up along the outside of the paddock. Hagrid started looking around through the tall grass. Harry heard some snickering from behind him from Malfoy and his cronies.

"Just look at him. He can't even find what he's supposed to be teaching us. What an idiot."

Harry turned and was about to let loose some words about what he felt about Malfoy and him even taking that class if he felt that way when he heard some other voices coming from the paddock.

"Here he comesss. If he triesss to lift usss again, I will bite him thisss time."

"I sssaid no, Shamira! He isss the one who bringsss us food and keepsss us warm. He hasssn't harmed usss."

"I don't care. I will bite him thisss time!" The voices were low, but Harry could hear them.

"Ah, there she is! Wait jus' a mo' and I'll show yeh the beauty." Hagrid started to reach down. Harry heard a violent hiss.

"Hagrid! No!" Harry jumped over the paddock fence. He ran the few steps to Hagrid and tried to stop Hagrid from reaching down.

"Harry? Whatsa matter? I wanta show the class the Runespoor we've got."

"She doesn't want to be picked up. She said she'd bite you if you did."

Hagrid's eyes opened with surprise and then understanding. "You can understand 'er? What else does she say?"

Harry looked down. There was a livid orange snake with black stripes about four feet long laying in the grass. Harry blinked and looked again. The snake had three heads. "Pleassse don't bite him. He meansss no harm. He just wantsss to show you to the studentsss."

The snake straightened up. Each head stared at Harry. The one on the left started. "I had no wish for him to be bitten. I am Sorena. Who are you?"

The right head spoke up. "I am sssick of being lifted. I am Shamira. Sorena never wantsss me to bite. She doesn't understand that sometimesss people should be bitten." The right head glared at the left head.

The middle head looked at Harry as well. This one seemed a little more out of it than the others. "I've heard of humansss who could talk but I never dreamed I'd meet one." At this the other heads both snorted. "I am Sapna."

"Pleasssed to meet you. I am Harry. Harry Potter. This is Hagrid. He teachesss us about different animals, sssuch as yourself. He thinksss you are beautiful." Harry wondered if snakes were impressed by flattery.

"Maybe I won't bite him, then. But I ssstill don't wish to be lifted up!"

Harry looked at Hagrid. "Shamira, the one on the right, doesn't want to be lifted up."

Hagrid's eyebrows came together. "D'yeh think she'd be willing to climb up?"

Harry asked the creature and they agreed. Hagrid reached down and the Runespoor climbed up his arm and wrapped lightly around his neck. Harry could hear the other students gasp.

Harry made his way back over the fence. The rest of the class was staring at him. Harry closed his eyes and thought. 'Not this again.' He gave a half-hearted smile to the rest and turned his attention back to Hagrid.

"Showing off, Potter?" Malfoy's voice hissed from behind. "You should have just let the great oaf get bitten. It might make the class more interesting."

"You know, Shamira really wants to bite someone. Maybe I should give my blessing for her to bite you, Malfoy. Would that make the class interesting enough?" Harry's voice was just as low. Ron started to chuckle, but Hermione jabbed Harry with her elbow.

"Now who can tell me 'bout Runespoors? Anyone?" Hagrid had reached the fence as well, but was staying inside the paddock with the snake-like creature around his neck for all to see. Most students backed away as Hagrid came close. Hermione raised her hand. "Alright, Hermione. What can you tell us about the Runespoor?"

"The Runespoor is an African snake whose eggs are used in memory potions. The right head is extremely poisonous." Hermione was eyeing the Runespoor with a bit of trepidation.

"Righto, Hermione. Ten points ter Gryffindor. We keep the heating charms on because the Runespoor is accustomed to heat an' doesn't like the cold. Harry, you said 'er name is Shamira?" The creature started hissing in earnest. Hagrid's hand was resting on the left head.

"Did he jussst call me Shamira! I am not that one! I have much more common sssense!"

"Er…they each have different names. The one you're touching now is Sorena. The one in the middle is Sapna and Shamira is the one on the right."

In the background, Harry could hear Malfoy whispering to Crabbe and Goyle in a panicky voice. "Right? He said it was the right one? Which one is the poisonous one?"

"Blimey! Didna realize tha'. I'll have ter make sure I keep 'em straight. Wouldn't want ter insult her none. An important rule when carin' for wild creatures is to always respect their dignity. Wha's important to them. Names can be an important thing."

Getting a closer look at the Runespoor, Harry noticed it looked like it had been in several fights. It seemed to have many scars, especially the right head, Shamira. Hagrid continued with his lesson. He explained that this was a pretty young Runespoor. They normally grew to around 7 to 8 feet in length and quite often lost their third head. Each head had a different personality. Overall, it was a pretty interesting lesson.

* * *

Later that night, Harry took out his dad's journal. He read over the first entry where his father mentioned the prank against the Slytherins. Harry wasn't intending to prank the Slytherins but he was curious about the passageway mentioned. He didn't think he ever used that passage. Of course, he didn't have any desire to go to the dungeons other than what was absolutely needed for his potions classes. But he was curious. Harry took out the Marauder's Map. He eventually found a passage that looked like it came out in a hallway two over from the Slytherin Common room. He traced the passage back and saw that it started on the fourth floor. Unlike most passages, this one only seemed to have the two exits. Many of the secret passageways had multiple exits on different floors.

There was still a couple of hours until curfew and Harry didn't have any pressing homework yet, so he thought maybe he would check it out. Harry took the map, the journal and his invisibility cloak and made his way down to the common room. He looked about for Ron. He thought he'd invite him along. He found Ron over by Hermione near the fire. From how close they were sitting and how focused they were on their conversation, Harry thought that maybe they had figured out they liked each other. He decided this was not a good time to interrupt them.

He looked around the rest of the common room. He saw Neville, Dean, Seamus, Parvati, Ginny and Lavender playing some sort of game over in another area, and couple of younger years anxiously starting on their homework. He took a deep sigh and decided to just head out alone.

When Harry reached the fifth floor on his way down, he met Terry Boot and Michael Corner coming up the stairs. Michael looked undecided about something and then approached Harry. "Potter! Can I have a word?"

"Sure." Harry wasn't sure what he wanted but he remembered Hermione telling him that Michael wasn't happy with him. As Michael gestured towards an open classroom off to the side, Harry kept his hand near his wand as unobtrusively as possible. Terry mumbled something about meeting up with Michael at the Library and left.

Michael followed Harry into the room and closed the door. He looked at Harry and then looked away and started pacing.

"I know we've never talked much before, but I've got to ask you something." Harry cautiously nodded. "I know you dated last year. How do you feel about Cho?" Michael met his eyes waiting for his answer.

Harry fidgeted. How would you answer that? "Last year I think Cho and I were both interested in each other briefly, but there was too much history between us. It just didn't work. I like her, but I don't _like_ her anymore."

Michael nodded. "That's how I thought it had been. I…I care for Cho. We were getting quite close earlier this summer. Then, after her family was attacked, she started acting differently. She talked about you all the time."

Harry broke in. "I don't know why. I only saw her once during the summer and that was only for a couple of minutes."

Michael shook his head. "I know. I was there, remember. I don't know. Something's going on in her mind and until she can work it through, I just want to ask you to be careful with her, all right? She's very vulnerable right now."

Harry agreed and they went their separate ways.

* * *

Harry reached the fourth floor and found the dead end hallway that had the Sanguine Scots portrait. He looked at it. He was a red-headed cheerful looking fellow dressed in a plaid tartan and carrying bagpipes. He had been quietly playing them until Harry approached. He looked curiously at Harry.

"Och! Wha do we hae here? Ooh, laddie, wha are ye aboot?"

"I'm just curious about the passage behind you."

"Ye'll be needing the password afore you can enter."

Harry pulled out the map and the man in the portrait gasped. "Mon! Ah knew another Jimmy wha had a map like tha!" He peered closer at Harry. "Ye ken him? Ye have the look of him aboot ye."

"He was my father."

"Yer faither ye say! Tha' Jimmy could blether on agin the best. A right talker he was! An now the bairn comes."

Harry watched the map and saw a little word bubble form the word 'Haggis'. Harry looked back to the portrait. "Haggis."

"Tha be the one. Be canny now! Nowt's bin down this way for many-a year." The portrait swung open and Harry lit his wand and entered.

It was very dusty and was obviously unused. He carefully made his way down many sets of stairs and long halls until he finally reached the exit. He looked carefully around the door and found the latch to open it. He pushed it open and entered an empty classroom.

It was obviously another potions room. It was very dusty and seemed to be a used as a storage space for extra equipment once upon a time. Harry saw the exit behind him melt together into a stone wall. It reminded him of the Slytherin Common Room entrance. Harry walked over to the door to the hallway. He checked the map first to make sure no one was around and then tried the handle just to see if it was unlocked. It was locked. Harry continued exploring for a while.

Eventually Harry figured he'd seen enough. The supply cupboards still had some supplies in them, but most of them Harry thought were probably no good anymore. There were knives, cauldrons and burners in other cupboards as well as parchment, quills and some old potions books. Harry looked at the map again to find that he needed to twist a wall sconce to open the exit again. He did and made his way back up to the fourth floor.

Once out, Harry started back for the Tower. He didn't really want to go back, but wasn't sure where else to go. He rounded a corner and came to a dead stop. Cho was just down the hall. He thought of Michael's words and decided the best way to handle this now was to not be seen. He backed back up to the hall he came out of, but heard his name being called. "Harry?"

Harry took off back to the hallway of the Sanguine Scot and said the password. As the portrait opened, he asked him not to tell the young lady following that he had gone that way. The portrait just laughed and agreed 'not to tell any lassie's whaur he'd gaun.'

He made his way back to the potions room and decided to look through his father's journal again for a while. He pulled out a chair and put a cushioning charm on it and settled in. He looked over the animation spell section and decided to practice. Harry practiced for another hour. Before he left he was able to wordlessly/wandlessly make four stirring spoons and knives perform a dance for several minutes before they would collapse. He was quite pleased. He was almost ready to transform. He wanted to read more about before taking any other steps, but felt he was getting close to be capable of doing it successfully.

By the time Harry noticed the time, he had only a short time until curfew. He quickly checked the path to the Tower and didn't see Cho anywhere along the way. He made his way back up to the fourth floor and then on to the seventh floor to Gryffindor Tower. As he collapsed into his bed, he thought it hadn't been such a bad first day of classes.

* * *

Things got back into a routine for Harry over the next few days. He was able to spend some time with Ron and Hermione and get them caught up on what happened at the end of his summer, with finding the estate and all.

He was approached by more DA members about restarting their meetings. He said he would think about it. Because of this, he was looking forward to his Wednesday morning DADA class.

When he got to the classroom, he was pleased to notice that all the members of the DA in his year had made it. In fact, there were only three students who were not part of the DA in the class. Unfortunately, Malfoy was one of them.

The Professor entered the classroom. "Hello. I'm Professor Vigori. Welcome to NEWT Defense Against the Dark Arts. You may have read some of my books. I've written _Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts_, but more recently I've written _Weird Wizarding Dilemmas_." Harry thought they sounded familiar. He thought he may have read them in his fourth year, trying to find anything to help him survive the three tasks. He didn't think the first book was too bad, but remembered Hermione being pretty scathing about the second book.

The professor went on. "Now I know the first chapter in your book is mostly about shields, but instead of focusing on those, I think it would be much more fun to be prepared for the unexpected."

Harry started thinking 'OK. So far, so good.'

"Now who can tell me what would you do differently if confronted with a pixie with laryngitis rather than a troll with laryngitis? Anyone? Anyone?" The way she was bouncing around the room put Harry in mind of Pigwidgeon.

Harry let his head fall and hit his desk. He hit his head on the desk again just for good measure. How could they have gotten another useless teacher? Only two of the six teachers they've had had been any good and one of them was a Death Eater on Polyjuice! Slowly he lifted his head and looked around the classroom. The teacher was droning on and on. He noticed almost every eye was on him with hopeful looks. He closed his eyes, then nodded. The class broke into relieved smiles. Harry took out his fake galleon and set a time for after dinner on Thursday.

* * *

Thursday Harry's classes ended with Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall held Harry back as he was getting his stuff together. After the room emptied, she said, "Mr. Potter, I have made arrangements for you to have a tutor in potions. She will be along in just a moment."

They waited and within five minutes a tall Slytherin girl with brown hair entered. "Mr. Potter, Audra Fletcher has agreed to tutor you in potions. Miss Fletcher, here is the student I spoke to you about."

The girl's eyes widened. "Potter? You want me to tutor _him_?"

"Yes, Miss Fletcher. I will leave it to the two of you to make arrangements." With that, McGonagall left the room.

The girl threw up her hands and started muttering, "Great. Just bloody great!" She looked over at Harry. "Nothing personal, but it could cause difficulties if it got out that I was tutoring you."

Harry shrugged. "Sorry." Harry noticed she had the Head Girl badge on. "You're the Head Girl?"

"Yeah. So?" Her tone was very aggressive.

"Nothing. Will you have time to tutor? I don't know all what's involved in being the Head Girl, but I would imagine that it would take a lot of time."

"Oh. Professor McGonagall said it shouldn't be a problem if we only meet once a week or so. It wouldn't be like a full class. I would have just taught some of the extras learned at NEWT level. I intend to be professor after I leave. I know there will be an opening at Durmstrang in a couple of years and Professor McGonagall said she would give a recommendation on my skills as a tutor if I would do this. That can mean a lot when going for the job."

"Would it have to say who you tutored? Would it cause a problem with the job if it was me, or would it just cause problems with your House mates now?"

"There wouldn't be a problem later with the job. I doubt they'd even care to ask. It's the recommendation that would mean a lot. The problem is with my House mates. A few of them don't like you very much," she said sardonically.

"Do you have to tell them? I won't say anything."

Her face got an impatient look. "I think they would notice us meeting in the potions lab."

Harry started to get an idea. "What if we didn't meet there?"

"Even if this wouldn't be a regular class, there still would be things you would need to do which require a lab. It has to be the potions lab. At least most of the time." She was looking like she doubted Harry's intelligence.

"What if I tell you that I know of another potions lab that doesn't get used anymore?"

Her face had an arrested look. "Where?"

"Take a left from your common room instead of right and go down two hallways. It's one of the locked doors."

"Then you have to go past our common room to get there. You'd get noticed. How do you know where our common room is, anyway?"

Now Harry had the look that said, 'Give me a break'. "Don't you know where all the common rooms are?"

"I do now, since I became Head Girl. I didn't before."

Harry just shrugged. "I know a secret passage to that room. Why don't you come with me and see if it would work?"

She looked at him suspiciously. "All right. Lead on, Potter."

Harry led her to the fourth floor and down the side hallway to The Sanguine Scot. "Och, laddie! Back agin, are ye? Wha braw lassie be this? Ta' other got het up when she couldna find ye. Quite a palaver she made! She an' another were causing some ruckus aboot wither ye be a hero or no."

"Haggis!" The Slytherin girl was looking at Harry with a curiosity mixed with mistrust. The portrait swung open.

"Hero?" Audra looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Harry just rolled his eyes and shook his head. She continued on. "I didn't know about this passage. We're awful high for a passage to the dungeons."

"It's almost all stairs. Don't worry. Trust me." Harry lit his wand and entered the passage. The Slytherin girl lit hers and followed. She jumped when the portrait swung shut behind her. Harry just smiled and started leading the way down the passage.

Finally they reached the end of the passage and Harry unlatched the exit. As they stepped through, the girl's eyes widened. "I didn't actually believe you, but this really is an unused lab." Her eyes narrowed as she started to take inventory of what was around. She started testing some of the equipment that was there. "Most of this seems to be in working order. It's a bit dusty down here, but it is usable…"

"As you can see, I can get down here undetected. Would you be able to slip away?"

Harry could almost see the thoughts running behind Audra's eyes as she thought out the possibilities. "Yes…yes. I would have to tell Blaise, though. But he can keep it quiet."

"Blaise? Blaise Zabini?" Harry didn't know him well, but the name was familiar.

Audra's eyes narrowed. "Yes. You have a problem with him?" The aggression was back.

"No. As long as he doesn't have a problem with me, I'm okay with him. What does he have to do with this, though?"

For the first time Audra looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm dating him. If it ever should come out that we're meeting together I wouldn't want him to get the wrong idea. If you were anyone else, there wouldn't be a problem tutoring in the open, but…"

"Don't worry. I know what you mean. If it would make him feel better, bring him along. When do you want to meet?"

Her brow clouded again. "That's a problem. As Head Girl I have to work around things that come up week to week. I can't set a specific time for this. I had planned to just make arrangements week to week over lunch or something, but that won't work anymore."

Harry tried to think of a solution. His hand closed over something in his pocket. He pulled out his fake galleon. He slowly smiled. "I think I may have the solution for that as well. Do you know Hermione Granger?"

"The know-it-all Prefect?"

Harry smiled. "Yes. The know-it-all Prefect. There are some distinct advantages of being friends with an extremely smart witch. I think she can solve this problem. I'll talk to her about it. If what I think works, she can explain what to do after the next Prefect's meeting."

The Slytherin girl wore a skeptical look but said nothing. She started looking closer at the books on the shelf. She pulled one out, sneezed then wiped her hand on her robe leaving a dusty trail. "We'll definitely have to do something about cleaning up a little in here."

Harry wandered a little ways away and softly called, "Dobby?"

The loud crack that brought the little house elf startled Audra and she dropped the book. She looked on in shock as she took in Dobby's appearance. He was dressed in yellow shorts and a red shirt with four or five hats on his head and two different socks on his long feet.

"Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is so please that Harry Potter called him, sir!" Dobby lowered his voice. "Tiz has been coming to Hogwarts, sir. There is two more house elves. We was wondering if Harry Potter could be meeting at the next Hogsmeade weekend. Dobby believes it is in three weeks. They be okay until then."

"That would be fine, Dobby. That's a good plan to meet then. In fact, I have an idea about that but I'll talk to you later on that. I called to ask if you could get us some cleaning supplies so we could work on this room a little. Audra is going to be helping me with potions but we don't want others to know so we thought we would use this room."

Dobby looked at him with that 'he just doesn't understand how it's supposed to work' look. "Dobby would be happy to clean this room for Harry Potter!"

"I can do it, Dobby. I know you're already busy. I just need some supplies."

"Dobby is not so busy anymore. Since Miss stopped hiding clothes, the other elves helps Dobby with Gryffindor Tower again. Harry Potter is not a house elf! Harry Potter leave the cleaning to Dobby!" Dobby's ears were waggling so much Harry thought the hats might fall off. He even stamped his foot with his last statement.

Harry could hear Audra snickering behind him. She obviously enjoyed watching Harry getting yelled at by a house elf. "Another fan of the 'hero'?" she said with sarcastic amusement.

Dobby's ears perked up as he shifted his gaze to the Slytherin girl. "Ah. You knows Harry Potter well then. He is a great wizard. Harry Potter saved Dobby back in his second year and just this past summer he saves Winky, too! Yes, Harry Potter is a great wizard hero!"

Audra's eyes got large as Harry buried his face in his hands. He looked back up, knowing his cheeks were tinged with pink. "Dobby, thank you." He hoped Dobby would take that as a cue to leave.

Dobby's smile was as wide as his face. "You is very welcome, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will have this clean for you in no time." With a snap of his fingers the small house elf cracked away.

"Okaaay. So you can call house elves here? I didn't think they answered students."

Harry shrugged. "Truthfully, that was the first time I tried. I don't think any of the others would respond, but Dobby's special. He and I have a history together. He's more of a friend. He does tend to get excited and exaggerate some things, though."

"Oh, really, Hero? I would never have guessed." Harry grimaced at the name. She looked around. "Well, I think this will make an okay tutoring place. I'll need to plan what I'll want to teach you. I'll contact you sometime next week on when we can start." Harry nodded agreement. Audra unlocked the door and left.

Harry made his way back up to the fourth floor to make his way back down to the Great Hall for dinner. His talk with Audra had gone a ways into the dinner hour so he had to hurry if he wanted to eat much. He looked over to the Slytherin table and saw Audra sitting next to Blaise Zabini. They were listening to someone sitting across the table from them. Harry figured she would probably find a more private place to explain about the tutoring.

Ron looked up. "Where've you been, Harry?"

"McGonagall held me after class. Just had to make some arrangements."

Hermione looked at him strangely. "Professor McGonagall has been here the whole time."

"Yeah, I know. I had to make arrangements with someone else. I'll tell you about it soon, okay?"

His friends nodded and returned to their meals.

* * *

Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to the Room of Requirement a little before seven o'clock when the others would be meeting. Harry paced the hallway and the door appeared. They entered the room.

"Okay, now. What arrangements and with whom?" Hermione started in first.

"McGonagall made arrangements for me to get tutoring in potions, so even if I don't take the class, I can still sit for the NEWT."

Hermione looked impressed, Ron looked nauseous. Hermione spoke up. "That will be really hard, Harry. I can try to help, too. Who's going to be tutoring you?"

"Audra Fletcher."

Ron's eyes popped wide. "The Head Girl? She's a Slytherin! You can't have her tutor you. She'll probably drug you and hand you off to the Death Eaters!"

Hermione's "Ron!" came as Harry started to explain. "I don't think Professor McGonagall would have a Death Eater wanna-be be my tutor. Audra seemed a bit upset about it being me she was tutoring, too. She's afraid it'll cause trouble for her in her house if anyone finds out so we're not telling anyone. You've got to keep it quiet. That brings to mind something else. Hermione, would it be possible to make the Protean Charm work both ways? Somehow we have to make arrangements to meet, but not obviously. I thought maybe you could charm a Sickle so each of us could agree on a time or something."

Hermione looked thoughtful. "It seems that when I was reading about the Protean Charm, there was another that would do that. I'll have to look it up."

Harry grinned. "That would be great. If we could work that out, I thought maybe you could stay after a Prefects meeting and explain how it works to Audra. That way she and I don't have to meet where we could be seen."

A sound was heard at the door. Cho walked in. She smiled at Harry. "Hi, Harry. I'm so glad you decided to do this again. How have things been?"

"They've been fine so far. How about for you?"

"Mostly okay. Marietta's not coming. I don't think she kept her coin and she didn't seem to realize anything when I pulled mine out to look at it. She didn't even seem to remember that it wasn't a real coin and I didn't explain. She hasn't been very nice lately. What was in that hex you made Granger?" Cho's voice turned a little cool when she spoke to Hermione.

"Only the acne hex charmed to spell 'sneak'. There was nothing more than that." Hermione sounded a little indignant.

"No. The memory thing happened later in Dumbledore's office." Harry broke in. He didn't want to elaborate any more. He didn't particularly like that memory.

"Oh, okay." Cho seemed to think that if Dumbledore knew about it, it must be all right then. Harry shook his head at the way people blindly thought anyone in authority must have the right answers.

Others were slowly trickling into the room. Harry was a bit surprised that all of them that were still at school, except for Marietta, came. He closed the door and they all settled on nearby chairs or poufs. Harry felt a little uncomfortable. True, there were no educational decrees forbidding them meeting this year, but this was the group that Dumbledore took the blame for last year then had to go into hiding. Harry took a deep breath and got started.

"I was hoping that this year's Defense teacher would be a little more willing to help us get ready for life out there. But, as unbelievable as it is, we once again seem to have someone who won't. What I want to find out from you tonight, is where do you want these meeting to go?"

Colin Creevey tentatively raised his hand.

"Colin?"

"I don't know how your classes are going, but in the two that I've had she mentions something that seems important to learn, says it will be on the OWLs and then has us practice how to braid nose-hair." His face screwed up at the end. The others in the room laughed but there were several nods of agreement.

"So you want to be able to practice what you believe will be important on your class tests?" Several nodded.

Justin Finch-Fletchley spoke out. "But last year you were teaching us other defenses, too. It's important for us to be able to defend ourselves with things we won't learn in class at Hogwarts." His eyes darted towards Cho who had a blank look on her face.

"So maybe some sort of divided time on learning new things and practicing existing spells?" More nods.

Dennis Creevey spoke up. "What about new members? I'm the only 3rd year here. I know of several classmates who would like to join something like this if they knew about it." Several mutters broke out. A couple of members shot looks at Hermione.

She reluctantly started to speak. "I was forced to take the jinx off at the beginning of summer. But I still don't think it's a good idea to be talking about this to everyone."

At that moment there was a knock at the door. Everyone froze. Harry slowly made his way to the door and opened it. He was surprised by who he saw there. "Headmaster?"

Professor Dumbledore made his way into the room along with a shocked Harry. "Ah, Mr. Potter. I was hoping to find you." His twinkling eyes made a circuit of the room, looking at all the frozen students. "I was wondering if you would mind heading up a study group this year. I was thinking you could even use this very room. A very delightful room it is, too. You and your friends would be able to study what you felt necessary and, as it is a study group, not a school club, you would be able to invite whatever students you feel would benefit from it. You may want to restrict it to third year and above just for size considerations, but that is up to you. You may want to come up with a new name for your group, however."

"Er…yes, sir."

The Headmaster smiled and made his way back to the door. Harry followed him out. "Headmaster, how did you know where I was?"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled even brighter. He pulled a small golden coin from his pocket. He flipped it in the air to Harry. His seeker reflexes had him catching it to find one of the fake galleons. "I had removed it from Miss Edgecombe last year. My compliments to Miss Granger on some very fine charm work." And he turned and strode down the hall.

Harry turned and slowly made his way back into the room. He looked at the others and closed the door. Almost as one a loud breath was exhaled. Harry had to smile. It seemed like every single student had been holding his or her breath while the Headmaster was there.

"I think we have his blessing to continue."

* * *

Hermione was able to find the spell and charm two items to look like Sickles. She gave Harry a coin and explained the details. Friday evening they had a Prefect meeting and she told Harry afterwards that she explained how it worked to Audra Fletcher, too.

The weekend passed by without incident. Harry dodged Cho a few more times, but was successful. Monday morning came quickly and Ron was eager for another Finance class.

Harry and Ron took their seats near the front of the class. Griphook came in and scowled.

"The first thing with working with finances is obvious. Finances are value, usually in the form of galleons. In order to manage your galleons you need to know how much you have or will be coming in. Only then can you manage how much you plan to keep or how much you plan to spend. The goal, obviously, is to plan to keep more than you plan to spend. Today, we will be writing letters to 'Gringotts' to find out how much is in your vault."

Griphook frowned when the Hufflepuff raised her hand. "Miss Jones?"

"I…I don't actually have a vault at Gringotts." The timid Hufflepuff was obviously nervous.

Griphook sneered. "I don't expect you to actually have a vault, Miss Jones. Very few minors have access to a real Gringotts vault. For this exercise _I_ will be Gringotts. You will write an acceptable letter to me and I will assign an amount to be in your 'vault'." He glared around the classroom.

The class got started on their letters. Harry thought it was a pretty simple exercise until Griphook started to ask them what they were including in their letters.

"Mr. Weasley. What did I say you were to try to find out?" He really looked rather scary when he pounced on something wrong.

Ron gulped and said, "You wanted us to find out how much gold was in the vault."

"Try again, Mr. Weasley. Anyone remember what I told you to find out?"

Harry didn't know. He thought Ron had it right. Tentatively the Hufflepuff behind them raised her hand. "You…you wanted us to find out _what_ was in our vault. Is there more than just the money in the vault?"

"Correct, Miss Jones. Most vaults contain not only liquid assets but other assets as well; things that have _value_. You may never need to do anything with other items in your vault, but you should be aware of what they are. Re-write your letters to find the total _value_ of your vault, preferably broken down between liquid assets and other material assets."

Harry crumpled his previous parchment and took out a new one. He wondered if there was anything else in _his_ vault besides the galleons. He had never taken the time to look. He was usually in too much of a hurry. He decided to send a copy of his letter to the real Gringotts as well. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure if there were some automatic deductions from his account either. He wasn't sure how his education here at Hogwarts was paid for. He'd never felt comfortable asking. Maybe he could add something about getting the activity for the past few years added to it. Tubow had told him that there would be some initial extra expenditures for getting the estate back into shape. Harry had just given him the go ahead. Now he was getting nervous that he didn't have enough in his vault to cover everything.

Harry re-wrote his letter exactly how he thought he wanted his letter for his real vault to go. The class handed them in and continued on to read a chapter in their textbook until the end of class.

When class ended, Harry was called to stay back again by Griphook. "Mr. Potter, you did an excellent job on you account letter. What made you think to ask for past transactions?"

"I started thinking about my own vault. I realized that I have no idea what is in there and I…ah…acquired some responsibilities this past summer. I need to make sure that I can support those responsibilities."

"And what will you do, Mr. Potter, if your answer…disappoints you?" Griphook still looked at Harry with that watchful gaze.

Harry gulped. Griphook probably had a pretty good idea of what was in his vault. He wondered if this was his way to prepare him for disappointment. "Well…then I guess I'll have to find some other way to support them." He was speaking more to himself than to the goblin.

"Some responsibilities can be easily cast aside."

"Not mine. What I take on stays with me. I know I have some 'things'. Maybe I could sell something." Harry was mentally trying to figure what in the estate would be saleable.

Griphook made a snorting noise. "Mr. Potter, why don't you just wait for your response."

Harry focused on Griphook again. "Professor, would you have any advice on what else to include in my letter?"

Griphook looked up at him and gave one of his scary half-smiles, showing most of his pointed teeth. "The only additions I think you should make to your letter are to ask for priority and high confidentiality." He gave a snorting noise again. "Yes, you do not want your banking information to be known to everyone. High confidentiality is a must."

That really worried Harry. He could just imagine what the news would be like for the wizarding world to find out that the 'Boy Who Lived' was destitute. Yes. He thought that was very good advice. Harry thanked Griphook and left the classroom to run to his Potions class.

* * *

On Monday evening Harry was in the owlery sending Hedwig off with his letter to Gringotts when he felt a warmth in his pocket. He pulled out the Sickle. The date suggested on the Sickle was Tuesday at 8 PM. Harry adjusted his own to confirm the date.

Tuesday evening came and Harry decided to bring his invisibility cloak in his bag as well as the Marauders Map. Harry made his way to the secret passage and started down. He used his wandless _lumos_ ball instead of his wand because it gave off a brighter light than his wand tip and no one was around to see. He also thought it would be a good idea to keep practicing whenever he could. He still made his way down into the trunk some evenings when Ron and Hermione seemed busy with either each other or their Prefect duties. Not only could he practice in private, but it was quieter for doing homework.

Harry checked the map before he entered the potions room. Blaise was with Audra. That was okay. If Harry was dating someone, and she was to be alone with someone, especially someone disliked by most of your acquaintances (if not all), he would want to check him out, too.

Harry put the map away and opened the exit. Blaise was standing against a wall with his arms across his chest. Audra was sitting on the teacher's desk.

"Hello," Harry noticed that while Blaise certainly didn't look friendly, he wasn't standing there with his wand pointed at him either.

"Potter," Audra greeted him back. Blaise just gave a short nod; his dark eyes watchful.

Harry sighed and moved to lean against one of the potions tables. He kept his arms open. "Okay. What questions do you have?" He looked directly at Blaise as he asked this.

Blaise unfolded his arms and moved over to the desk to sit near Audra. "I don't have questions, as such. I just want to know that Audra will be safe with you. I wouldn't think that McGonagall would set her up to be hurt, but you seem to be a blind spot with her and Dumbledore. At least I know now why she personally set up tutoring arrangements. Because it was you."

"She didn't do that because of me. Well, at least not directly. It was more to go against Umbridge. Umbridge hates me. She sat in on my career counseling and said I would never be an auror. McGonagall ended up getting right in her face saying that she would help me become an auror if it was the last thing she did. McGonagall takes her word seriously. And if it helps me get what I want, I'm not going to say no." Blaise and Audra nodded with agreement. They could understand that reasoning. "Regardless of what the Daily Prophet and others said last year, I am not a delusional crazy person with 'violent tendencies'." The last part was said with a tinge of bitterness.

Audra's eyes widened. "I hadn't heard that last one. Which article said you had violent tendencies?"

"That one wasn't in any of the articles I heard about. That was my friend Ron's brother Percy trying to warn him away from me in a letter."

Blaise frowned. "That's cold. I remember Percy. He was a bit of a pompous git, right?"

"Yeah. That's Percy."

"You say you don't have violent tendencies, but I saw what you did to Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle on the train last spring. I know they attacked you, but that was a pretty massive retaliation."

"I didn't do that. They had me cold. Some others came to help me and their combinations made those rather 'interesting' effects."

"I heard him saying he was going to jump you by the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw compartments. That way the Gryffindors couldn't help you."

"Yeah, well, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws he chose just happened to be some that I tutored last year. They were a little enthusiastic in my defense." Harry couldn't help but smirk a bit at the memory.

"Tutor? I heard you were forming some sort of army."

"We called ourselves 'Dumbledore's Army' only because that seemed to be what the Ministry was most afraid of. There was no army. I was just helping a few students."

"What were you teaching them?"

"Defense. Umbridge wasn't teaching us anything and some of the other students believed me that Lord Voldemort was back." Both Blaise and Audra winced at the name. "They asked if I would teach them some of the things that I'd learned over the years."

"What sort of things?"

"Some basics. Making sure they could perform 'Expelliarmus' correctly. Some shields, a couple hexes. We were working on the Patronus Charm when Umbridge found out."

Audra's eyebrows lifted. "Chang. She was able to hold off Dementors this summer. She was part of your group?" At Harry's nod Audra continued. "Is that why she's calling you 'hero'?"

Blaise snorted. "Hero?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure what's up with Cho this year. I taught her the charm, but I wasn't there." Harry was really baffled by Cho's strange behavior.

Blaise asked, "How did you know this secret passage to our dungeons?"

Harry smiled. "I've got to keep some secrets."

Blaise looked at Harry with curiosity. "You're a lot more interesting than I gave you credit for."

* * *

A/N – wdrayton - My brother is not Bobmin356. My brother's not publishing his story yet (even though we think it's really cool) but he did recommend Bobmin356's story about two weeks ago to us and we just finished his Dumbledore's Army last night. I see some similarities, especially the phoenix song thing, but that was purely coincidental since we have been writing this since last fall and only have a bit of the last chapter to go. Meaning, this will be fast postings because it's 98 finished. 


	8. Hogsmeade

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 8 Hogsmeade

A few days after he had his first Potions tutoring meeting, Harry was again at his cauldron in the unused potions room. He felt so much more comfortable brewing a potion without Snape looking over his shoulder. He had to admit that this level of potion was above his comfort level, but Audra explained the steps and let him take his time to absorb what needed to be done. Blaise was there as well. It didn't seem that he didn't trust Harry, but he seem to find it easy to study in there while Harry and Audra quietly went about their business. It actually seemed the most quiet and relaxing 'class' Harry had.

Only on occasion would Harry get distracted. One time Blaise was trying to practice a defensive hex from the textbook (one good one that the teacher decided to skip over in favor of teaching the art of spelling your fingernails to grow into curls). Harry couldn't help himself. He called over, "Hold your wrist a little straighter."

Blaise gave him a disdainful look, but took his advice and the hex went much better. Audra brought Harry's attention back to what he was doing. "You know, Potter, you're not so bad at this but you let yourself be distracted."

Harry gave a lopsided grin. "What can I say? That," he gestured with a jerk of his head towards Blaise, "is a lot more fun."

Eventually they reached a breaking point. "The potion has to boil now for 15 minutes. Why don't you go play? I'll call you when you have to start stirring again." She took out her timer and set it for 15 minutes. Harry grinned at her and made his way over to Blaise.

"What are you looking at now?" Harry was trying to figure out what Blaise was studying.

"I've gone ahead in the book to this shielding charm. I'm not quite understanding what it's supposed to do, though."

Harry took a look. "Oh! _Protego_. We covered that one last year. You don't need much wand movement, just a bit of lift and it forms a shield that returns most spells back on the caster. Let me show you." Harry took a stance a bit away from Blaise. "Go ahead and send something. Something you wouldn't mind being hit with yourself, of course." Harry said with a smile.

Blaise thought for a moment then the dark haired boy yelled, "_Rictusempra_!"

Harry returned with, "_Protego_!"

Blaise's spell hit Harry's shield and rebounded. He tried to dodge but was hit. He started laughing. Harry cast the counter charm.

Audra came over. She had a heavy frown on her forehead. "Are you two fighting?"

Harry gave Blaise a hand up and Blaise walked over and put an arm around her. "Don't worry, Honey. We're just practicing some shields." Audra's face cleared, she nodded and returned to the teacher's desk where she had been looking through one of the old potions textbooks that had been on the shelf.

"Now you try the shield. Did you see how it was raised?"

Blaise frowned. "Could you raise it one more time?"

Harry lifted his wand a bit slower than he had when protecting himself from the jinx. "Protego."

Blaise nodded. "Okay. I think I've got it."

They paced off again and this time Harry raised his wand. "_Rictusempra_!"

The beam of light headed for Blaise and he raised his shield with, "_Protego_!" The beam of light bounced back to Harry who dodged out of the way.

Unfortunately the beam kept going until it hit Audra who had been on the other side of the classroom, but directly behind Harry. She started laughing uncontrollably. Harry smacked his hand to his forehead. "I'm sorry, Audra!" He quickly made his way over to her and performed the counter curse.

Audra stopped laughing, but now they could both hear Blaise laughing. Audra turned to him with a glare. "I'm sorry! But that was just hilarious! You should have seen Potter's face when he realized that you got hit with it. I've never seen eyes get that wide. He was totally gob-smacked!"

The edges of Audra's mouth softened and her eyes started to smile, too. "As long as you're laughing at him and not me."

That session set the tone for most of their sessions. Audra would teach Harry different types of potions and more advanced uses and properties of the ingredients and any time there was a bit of a break for a potion to simmer or boil, Harry would wander over by Blaise and they would work on different charms, hexes, jinxes and shields; making sure to be facing each other on the short length of the room so any stray curses would harmlessly hit the wall.

* * *

Katie Bell was Quidditch captain this year. She called for try outs on Wednesday night. As the crowd moved down to the pitch, Harry found himself walking next to Ginny. He smiled at her. "Hey, Ginny. How've you been? I haven't seen you much recently."

Ginny looked up. "Hi, Harry. Guess I've just been busy." She looked around. "Taking a break from your girlfriend?"

Harry looked confused. "What girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend."

Ginny looked up at him. Harry couldn't read her expression. At that moment he heard, "Harry! There you are. Have you been avoiding me?" Cho Chang had come up behind them. She grabbed hold of Harry's arm.

Harry gave a soft groan. He forced a smile on his face. "Of course not, Cho. What would give you that idea?"

He could feel Ginny giving him a sharp look. Cho started to pout at him. Harry wondered if she thought that looked cute. Now Ginny had a cute pout. You could always see the laughter in her brown eyes when she tried it. Cho just looked sulky.

"I hardly ever see you. Anyway, I decided to watch your try outs. I knew you would be here."

Harry's smile kept wanting to slide off his face. He tried to break away. "Well, I have to get going, now. I'll see you around. Come on, Ginny. We don't want to be late." Cho finally let go and smiled at him and gave a suspicious glare at Ginny.

As they got some distance away, Ginny turned to him. "I thought you liked her."

"I like her well enough, but not that way anymore. I don't really think she likes me that way either. I'm not sure what's up with her, but I have to admit that I feel like she's a predator and I'm the prey when she's around."

Ginny gave a small giggle. "Then where have you been lately at night if not with Cho?"

"Oh, sometimes I go down in the trunk, other times I have…er…some tutoring." Harry knew this wasn't coming out quite right. He was getting flustered. It was ridiculous. He could face down Death Eaters, being scared out of his mind, sure, but able to be coherent. But sometimes he just had a hard time talking to girls.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Ginny asked.

"What?" Harry had lost track of what they were talking about.

"Your tutoring. Is it with Professor Dumbledore?"

"Er…no. It's with someone else. But I do have to see Professor Dumbledore on Friday." Harry frowned distracted by this thought. The Headmaster told him to bring his stress ball and they would work on permanent Occlumency shields. Harry wasn't looking forward to it. He missed the suspicious look on Ginny's face.

Katie got everyone's attention and the try outs started. It was pretty much a given that Ginny would get a Chaser position, and Katie and Ginny worked with the other students trying out. They did pretty good. Ginny matched Katie's moves well and they were able to test out different styles of the hopefuls. Ron was having a blast in his Keeper position. He looked like he was feeling like Harry had when he first took out the bike back at Number 12; like he'd been deprived of flying for too long. There really wasn't much for Harry to do but watch, although he made sure he always stuck close to Katie when she was on the ground or watch her stuff when she was in the air so Cho wouldn't try to get his attention.

Finally Katie called all the existing team together and thanked the hopefuls for trying out. She led the team into the locker room.

"I know we really only need one Chaser this year, but I'd like to have two players in reserve; one Beater and one Chaser. We know that Ginny can always back Harry up if something should happen. My first choices are Natalie MacDonald as Chaser, Dennis Creevey as reserve Beater and Euan Abercrombie as reserve Chaser. What do you guys think? Anyone have any reservations on any of those?"

No one did so it was decided.

* * *

Harry received a surprise Thursday during dinner. He had just been discussing Quidditch plays with Ron, when Professor McGonagall came up to him giving him a note saying that Professor Griphook was requesting his presence in his classroom and he should bring his vault key.

Harry frowned at the note, but gave a lame excuse to his friends and left the table. He hurried up to his dorm and searched through his trunk for his key. When he found it he stuffed it into his pocket and headed back to the main floor. He reached the door to the Finance class and gave a knock.

"Come in, Mr. Potter." Griphook had that smile that was a bit scary on his face. His eyes seemed to be anticipating something. "Your owl reached the bank this morning. After doing a preliminary check of your standing, they decided to comply with your rush request. They did a thorough hand count of your vault today and I was asked to bring you the results to insure confidentiality." Griphook seemed quite amused at the ruckus caused by Harry's letter. He pushed a very thick portfolio carrier across the desk towards Harry.

Harry's eyes widened. He had expected a simple letter detailing a few transactions and a grand total at the bottom. It didn't look like that was all that was there. Harry hesitantly reached for the portfolio.

"Lay your key against the impression on the seal." Harry did so and a green glow shone for just a moment. The seal opened. Harry reached in and pulled out several groups of parchment bound in different ways. "The first bundle is a summary of all items in your vault, the second is the amount of galleons, sickles and knuts, the third is the record of the properties you have interest in, the fourth of any business ownership or investments you hold, the fifth is small personal possessions such as jewelry and the sixth is the record of the transactions of your vault for the last three years."

Harry decided to only look at the first bundle right now. The rest would have to wait. The first bundle only consisted of three parchments. Three parchments of very tiny, precise writing. He squinted at the writing which started with actual galleons in his vault. His eyes widened. He didn't know how much things cost in the wizarding world, but that number seemed rather more than large. Harry didn't realize his jaw had dropped until he heard a snorting noise coming from his professor.

He was positive this time that Griphook was laughing at him. He took another look at the parchment. After the first section summarizing the value of the gold in the account came the section on property. It listed Potter Place, Godric's Hollow and 50 ownership of the House of Black. Each property had a value assigned to it. Harry noticed with a grimace that the value of Godric's Hollow was very low, but that wasn't surprising since it had been blown up. The next section was the largest. Business after business was listed as well as percent of ownership, each with a assigned value as well. He noticed some had little to no value to them. The last section on the summary was of the small personal possessions. There were many different rings, cloak clasps and other jewelry as well as some ornamental daggers and swords. Every item had a value assigned and Harry had to suppose some of them must have some large jewels in them to apparently be worth so much.

"All items were appraised by the Gringotts appraisal department so all values are current. They've been quite busy today." Again he seemed to be quite amused at the chaos caused.

Harry looked up and gulped slightly. "May I ask a question?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter." Griphook still seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Who manages all this stuff. These investments and things."

Griphook's look turned even more sinisterly amused as more pointed teeth showed. "Why, you do, Mr. Potter."

"_I_ do?"

"Of course, at your birth it was handled by your parents and then it fell to your wizarding guardian at their demise. Unfortunately, during his incarceration things have gotten a little…messy…shall we say. Maybe not taken care of as they should be. Perfectly understandable. But since his passing, as you have no other official wizarding guardian, all management falls to you."

Harry groaned. He slowly folded the summary again and started to replace it and the other bundles in the portfolio. "May I keep this? It's going to take me a while to try to understand all this."

"Of course, Mr. Potter. I have also been instructed to inform you that if you have any other requests you may feel free to contact any goblin at Gringotts. They are most anxious to follow any financial directions you care to place, for a small fee, of course."

Harry gave a half grin. "Of course. Thank you, Professor."

"You are very welcome. I've quite enjoyed your reactions to this news." With that, Griphook gave a short bow and left the room.

Harry needed to talk to someone about this. He figured Hermione wouldn't know much more than he and Ron always was so touchy about money. Harry wondered if Remus could come see him somehow. Maybe he could help him sort this out.

* * *

Friday saw Harry trudging down the hall to the Headmasters office. The stressball was being squeezed in his hand, phoenix song singing in his head. He was more than a bit nervous about doing Occlumency with the Headmaster. He had broken a few too many rules this summer and was concerned about what the Headmaster would find. He _almost_ wished he was doing this with Snape again. Almost, but not quite.

Harry told the password, 'gargoyle gumdrops', and made his way up the revolving stair. Harry knocked on the door to Dumbledore's office.

"Come in, Harry," The Headmaster's voice was as cheery as ever. The cheerfulness seemed a bit out of place with how Harry's stomach was feeling. "Have a seat." Harry sat down in front of the Headmaster. "Now, Harry, I believe you need to continue your Occlumency lessons. The solution you found is a good temporary measure, but if there should, Merlin forbid, ever be a time you should be captured or it is taken from you, you would be vulnerable. You need to learn to use your mind alone to prevent attacks. My hope is that you will learn to shield your mind and perhaps eventually be able to plant false memories to mislead."

"Do you think he will still try? I think he probably knows I was able to cut him off somehow earlier this summer. Maybe he thinks I mastered it already."

"I believe it was cut off too suddenly for him to believe you learned to block it off on your own powers alone." Harry could believe that. He did, on occasion, still feel twinges of Voldemort's emotions and burning in his scar, especially when he hadn't used the stressball the night before. "I would like you to leave your aide with me and meet with me in two days time." Harry's hand tightened over the small ball. He was very uneasy. Two days seemed a long time when he thought of the potential pain that could happen. Phoenix song started again in his head, calming him.

"Are you sure, Headmaster? What if I get a vision or he realizes he can send me pain?" Harry was hoping against hope that he wouldn't have to be parted from his little crutch.

"If you need to, come to my office. You are welcome any time." His blue eyes were twinkling as he continued on. "To go over what you know, Occlumency is a defense of the mind. A skilled Legilimens can search for memories to prove truthfulness, plant visions, or feel the victim's emotions."

"Feel the victim's emotions? Like I do with Voldemort? Is that Legilimency? Or the visions I've had of him when he's not aware of it? Is _that_ Legilimency?" Harry was shocked.

"Yes. I believe it is. I believe you have a natural talent, either your own or transferred with the scar, it matters not, with Legilimency. I'm not sure if it would work with everyone or if it can only travel the link you share, but I suspect that with practice, it could be with anyone. That is why I believe you can perform Occlumency. You have a very strong mind. We will not be able to try today because I am sure you have too recently used your aide and would be able to block my intrusion as well as Lord Voldemort's. But I believe the effects should be lessened enough to try in two days time. As for now, I want you to practice calling to mind the phoenix song from within your own mind; from your memories or from somewhere deep within yourself. I'm afraid that if Lord Voldemort were to try to access your mind for memories, he would try to access your worst."

Harry muttered, "They wouldn't be news to him. He was there for most of them."

"That may be true. To start with I shall not try with full force. That should probably bring up some disturbing memories, but not the worst that you have. The Legilimens is not always able to control which exact memories will come up with their search, but the power behind the spell does have some effect on how close the caster gets to the memories he wants to see. He may want to search for your worst memories, things you most want to hide, or things you like the most. Unfortunately, Lord Voldemort is a powerful wizard with more than enough power to see what he wants most of the time."

"But how do you clear your mind or 'empty yourself of all emotion'? I can't walk around all day trying to listen to phoenix song in my head. What keeps the protection there?"

"The accomplished Occlumens doesn't need to keep a blank mind or have total control of all emotions at all times. Humans are not robots. It is not possible. The calmness or in your case, the phoenix song would just be running in the background. It can happen with practice. What they do need to be able to do is to instantly recognize the intrusion and at that moment temporarily calm their mind and emotions until the intruder leaves. Even better, instantly recognize the intrusion, realize what the intruder is searching for and send misleading memories or feelings about the subject. There is actually a small delay from when you see the memory to when the attacker sees the memory. Time enough for the accomplished Occlumens to pull back the initial memory and supplant it with another."

Harry wondered if that was what happened last year when he'd seen the memory of Cho coming towards him. That was when he'd pushed Snape out of his mind, but Snape hadn't seemed to have seen that memory.

The professor dismissed him with an admonishment to practice recalling the phoenix song before he went to bed and on occasion during the coming days. Harry agreed and left.

* * *

Saturday morning, notices of a Hogsmeade weekend went up for the weekend in two weeks. Harry started making some plans. He called Dobby and had a little talk with him. Dobby grinned and popped away.

* * *

They had their first DA study group session on Saturday evening. Harry was surprised at how many new people showed up. There were at least thirty-five people; more than last year. Hermione even ran out of enchanted coins. They spent the first half of the session practicing things they had gone over last year as a review. Those who had it down pat he paired with new members. For the second half, Harry had them take a seat and he started taking requests. Each year had different things they wanted to focus on. Harry put the ones who wanted to study the same things in their own small groups and let them go. Everyone had something. He wandered around the room, giving out pointers here and there to each group. It still amazed him that even students older than he would take his advice on how to do something. With all of his studying he found he was familiar with almost all the spells people wanted to work on and those he wasn't he quickly picked up.

While he was making his rounds, he stopped by Hannah Abbott. "Hannah, would you go with me to Hogsmeade? I have a surprise for you if you will. I'm sure you'd like it."

Hannah looked at him with curiosity. "Sure. I'll go. You've peaked my curiosity. Will it be for all day?"

"No. Only for a bit in the morning. In fact, you can make arrangements to meet up with your friends for the afternoon. This should only take an hour or so in the morning."

"Now you've definitely peaked my curiosity. What kind of date only lasts an hour or two in the morning?" Hannah teased him.

Harry started stammering, but Hannah cut him off with a smile. "Don't worry. I'm not getting the wrong idea here. I'm just teasing you."

Harry gave a sigh of relief, threw her a lopsided smile and moved on to the next group. The next group were some seventh year students. Cho came near him. "Hi, Harry. Did you see that there is a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Er…yeah."

"What about you and me stopping by Madam Puddifoots again?"

"I'm afraid I already have some plans with Hannah."

Cho's voice stopped it's flirtatious tone and dropped about thirty degrees. "Hannah? Hannah Abbott? You're going to Hogsmeade with Hannah Abbott?" She was getting quite loud.

Harry was somewhat amused by the disbelieving chorus behind him. "Hannah?" It was like people never even thought that he could possibly have anything to do with Hannah. He distinctly heard Ginny's and Ernie's voices.

"Yes, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Hannah Abbott."

Cho flipped her hair back behind her shoulder and calmed herself. "Well, maybe I'll see you there."

He dismissed them before curfew, again releasing them in small groups so they wouldn't attract attention. While it wasn't a forbidden thing anymore, he still didn't want it advertised to just everybody.

He was straightening up the room, when the door opened up. He looked up. Cho was standing there. She came into the room and closed the door behind her, leaning against it. Harry started getting nervous again.

"Cho, what are you doing here?"

There was no other word for it. She started stalking towards him. A light sweat broke out over Harry's lip.

"I just wanted to show you what you were missing. You _can_ still change your mind. I'm sure…Hannah… would understand." Her eyes were very focused and filled with determination.

Harry kept backing up for each step she advanced until finally he hit the wall. Cho pressed her body up against his and started kissing him for all she was worth. Harry's mind stopped. When it started again it was thinking thoughts about being alone with a beautiful girl who felt very good against him. Not only was she kissing him, but seemed very willing to do more. His hands came up to rest on her hips. He faintly noticed the lights dimming in the room. Then he heard a tiny voice in the back of his mind telling him he knew this was wrong. His body didn't want to listen to the voice, but the voice was joined with memories of him telling Michael how he _liked_ her but didn't _like_ her anymore and Michael telling him that he cared and to be very careful with her as she was vulnerable right now. Harry's hands tightened on Cho's hips. He tried to call phoenix song to mind to calm himself down and he pushed her away. The lights were back to full brightness. "Cho, stop. Don't do this. I'm going to Hogsmeade with Hannah. Go back to your dorm."

Cho's face showed confusion and hurt. "But Harry, you know you would rather go with me. You love me."

"Cho, I don't love you. I like you as a person, but I'm not in love with you."

She started to get angry. "Well, you're not in love with Hannah! I'll make sure of that!" With that said, she turned and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Harry just gave a huge sigh of relief and slowly sank down on one of the poufs.

* * *

The next evening Harry made his way back to the Headmaster's office. As he walked he reflected on the previous evening. He still couldn't believe that scene with Cho had happened. He still couldn't believe he had been able to stop. That was much more difficult than he had expected. Even after Cho had left it had taken Harry almost fifteen minutes before he felt he could head back to his Common Room without embarrassing himself.

Harry had found Ron and forcibly dragged him up to the dorm room. Once there he made him _swear_ he would never leave Harry alone after a DA meeting again. Ron had seen how agitated Harry still was and had gone instantly on guard, thinking some Slytherins had cornered him. He had asked 'who?'. When Harry had responded, 'Cho,' Ron had almost bust a gut with his laughter.

It took a few slaps to the back of the head from Harry to finally quiet Ron down some. Eventually Harry had to see the humor in it, too. Here he was, the leader of a rather large group of students studying defense and he felt helpless in defending himself against one girl. But it wasn't like he could just hex her and be done with it. When he pointed that out to Ron, Ron had finally agreed that he would help guard against Harry being cornered by stalker #2.

Harry rode the revolving stair to Dumbledore's door. He entered when the Headmaster gave his permission and took the seat he was motioned to.

"Well, Harry, how has the practice been going?"

"I've tried bringing the song to mind at times, but it's not an automatic thing. It definitely needs some prompting and concentration. Last night my scar twinged, too, but not too bad."

"That is to be expected. You may even experience a bit more pain tonight after we practice. I'm afraid that until you manage to succeed, the practice tends to 'tire out' any natural shields you may have."

Harry remembered last year's sessions. He _always_ felt worse after a session with Snape. He had even suspected Snape of doing it on purpose, but now Dumbledore was saying that was natural. He just wished someone explained this stuff to him last year. Maybe then he wouldn't have mistrusted Snape so much and would have thought of him when he had that vision…Best not to be thinking of that right now. Nothing could be changed anymore anyway.

"I will initially be saying the spell aloud so you know when it is coming, but eventually I hope to be saying it wordlessly and you will still be able to block it. Professor Snape said you were successful expelling him from your mind a couple of times and were able to cast a stinging hex and rebounding shield, but you mustn't rely too much on outward spells. In normal Occlumency study I would recommend learning by using a wand as you did last year, but I fear you will need to learn the harder way, without a wand." Harry started to protest. Professor Dumbledore held a hand up. "Normal Legilimency needs eye contact, but because Lord Voldemort can access your mind without being physically present, you need to be able to expel him using only your mind. Learning to hex with a wand will do you no good."

Harry sighed and sat back. The Headmaster was right. What good was a shield spell when his scar was hurting? There was no spell physically coming at him to block. The professor smiled gently at him. "We will start slowly. Do not fear. Are you ready to begin?"

Harry nodded. He deliberately set his wand in front of him on his Headmaster's desk. Dumbledore lifted his own and softly spoke, "Legilimens."

Harry tried to recall the sound of the phoenix song as images started to flash by. Cooking breakfast for the Dursley's when he was six, being chased by Aunt Marge's dog Ripper, being hit by Dudley and his gang, his Uncle grabbing him by the ear and throwing him in the cupboard under the stairs while Harry tried to explain he didn't know how his teacher's hair turned blue…

The spell lifted. Harry was panting. He started to take stock of his situation. He thought it was rather nice not falling onto the floor. He was slumped in the chair, but there were no bruises. He lifted his eyes to find his Headmaster looking at him in a mixture of curiosity and discomfort. "What?"

Suddenly the Headmaster let out a large belch. Harry blinked in surprise.

"Ah, that's much better. You continually surprise me, Mr. Potter. I do not believe you've noticed yet, but you wandlessly summoned your wand and cast a belching hex on me. A short one, true, but effective in this case in that it stopped the spell."

"Oh, sorry." Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to say.

"Quite all right." The Headmaster's face turned grave. "You do know that I am sorry you had to grow up in that environment, don't you?" From the serious look on his face and the lack of twinkle in his eye, Harry knew the Headmaster was entirely sincere.

Harry just kind of shrugged and nodded. He gave a half smile. He was not comfortable with people learning his past, even people who knew it already. "I know. Er…maybe you should keep hold of this." Harry looked down at his wand and handed it across the desk.

"Let's try again, shall we? Legilimens." Harry saw the memories coming. He saw Aunt Petunia swinging a frying pan at him. He saw Ginny jumping up to leave their train compartment to find Dean. He saw Cho closing the door of the Room of Requirement and leaning against it. Harry started to panic. He didn't want Dumbledore to see that scene. He tried to call to mind the phoenix song. He focused on hearing it play and the feeling it gave. He could tell the scene started to play for the Headmaster and then to his relief felt his mind becoming calm and the image start to fade. His Headmaster's face was coming into focus. Suddenly a surge of power slammed into him bringing it back into focus. Harry started sweating trying to clear it away. Cho had him backed against the wall now. Phoenix song. Like Fawkes. '_Pull it up from deep inside_.' The birdsong started playing louder in his mind and he was able to begin to fuzz the picture again. For a second time a surge of power brought it back into focus. Harry was too tired. He couldn't fight it anymore. He let the scene play out. Cho was kissing him and he brought his hands to her hips. The lights dimming around them. Then the knowledge that it was wrong and trying to calm his mind to push her away. The lights brightening again. Eventually managing to push her away and the last words exchanged until he collapsed in an overstuffed pouf.

Harry just lay in the chair panting when Dumbledore lifted the spell. He kept his eyes closed. His head ached something fierce.

Harry faintly heard his Headmaster softly calling his name. "Harry?" Harry just grunted back. "Harry? I apologize. When I saw that last memory, I became concerned. The Room of Requirement is a very special room and would be easily abused. I am very glad my trust in your use of it hasn't been misplaced. I am correct that you haven't shared it's secret with others?"

Harry took a deep breath and softly said with his eyes still closed, "As far as I know Ron, Hermione and I are the only students who know how to create the room and we've only ever used it for DA meetings."

"That is very good. I'm sure your head is not ready to do any more tonight." Harry gave a brief snort which turned into a painful wince. He could hear the Headmaster writing something. He then got up from his seat and walked around the desk to kneel by Harry's chair. "Harry, can you look at me?"

Harry turned his head in the direction of his Headmaster's voice and squinted his eyes open. Once again he fought back a wince.

"I have a note here for you to give Madam Pomfrey. It is for Dreamless Sleep potion. I believe you should take some tonight. With the headache you already undoubtedly have, your defenses are very low. This is not something to expect with our lessons, but I think it would be wise tonight." The Headmaster gave a small smile. "If it helps at all, I had to put quite a substantial amount of power into the spell to keep the connection. There is no doubt in my mind that you can learn this very quickly. Most wizards would have had no chance at keeping the connection."

By the time Harry made it back to the Common Room, Dreamless Sleep potion in hand, he was weaving on his feet. Ron and Hermione took one look at him and helped him up to his dorm.

Ron was astounded. "Professor Dumbledore did this to you? Remind me never to study Occlumency. You look like crap, Harry."

"Feel like it, too. Can you keep your voice down?"

Ron helped Harry into his pajamas while Hermione paced outside their room. Eventually Ron called her back in and she instantly went back to Harry's side. She helped him drink his potion. Harry smiled. 'It was nice to have friends who cared' was his last thought before he collapsed back on his bed.

* * *

Harry was feeling infinitely better the next morning. Everything went fine in Herbology, but Harry tried to avoid Griphook's eyes in Finance. They got the amounts that was in their 'vaults' handed to them. Harry's was quite large, but Ron's was quite small.

"Figures," he said.

"Think of it as a challenge. You're good at strategy. Plan." Ron looked at Harry like he was crazy and then as if he was thinking about it. Finally he had the light of battle in his eyes.

"You're right. All I need is a plan." Ron focused intently on the rest of the class.

* * *

They had a small celebration for Hermione's birthday on Thursday. She received several gifts from a Gryffindor cloak clasp to books. She was 17 years old now. Not that it made a great deal of difference while at school, but she would be able to use magic on Christmas Break.

* * *

On Friday, Harry was heading for his class on Enchantment after his First Aid class. Harry decided to take a secret passage to get back up to the fourth floor. He didn't use this one much anymore because it was definitely made for shorter people. Ron couldn't take this one anymore without hitting his head at least twice and Neville would have a hard time squeezing out of the narrow exits.

As it was a somewhat known passage Harry used his wand for his lumos spell. Harry had reached the second floor when he heard the sound of panicked breathing. The dim light from his lumos spell gave up the figure of a young girl, probably a first year. Harry couldn't tell what house she was from. "Are you all right?"

"No! My cousin had told me about some of the secret passages and I needed to get to the third floor so I thought I would try one. The door closed behind me and it got dark and I can't find the way back out!"

Harry gave a soft chuckle and held out a hand. She took it and he started to lead the way up some stairs. "It'll be all right. I'll take you to the third floor. I take it you're a first year?" At the small nod Harry continued, "You may want to wait with the passages until you learn the lumos spell, like the one on my wand. Don't worry. You'll learn it soon. Then you can explore to your heart's content."

The girls panic was obviously subsiding and she started rambling. "This is just how it's been going for me. I keep getting lost in this bloody huge castle. I've been late for almost every class."

"No worries. If you need help when you're lost, feel free to ask any prefect. I'm sure they'll help you. Of course, you won't find too many wandering around in here! Most other older students are willing to point the way as well. Just watch out for Peeves."

The young girl looked up at Harry in the gloom. He could see a sense of shocked recognition in her eyes. In a hushed voice she said, "It was you!"

Harry was confused. "What was me?"

But she wouldn't answer. She fell into a silence. Finally they reached the third floor exit. Harry showed her how the catch worked to open the door. A door swung open a short way. The statue of Cliodna limited how far it could open.

"Here you go. Third floor. Can you find your way from here?"

The girl shook her head and pulled on his hand. Harry gave a sigh. This was one of the smallest exits this passage had. The girl squirmed through quite easily. Harry had a harder time, but managed to twist his way out. Harry started brushing off his robes. This exit ended in a side hallway that seemed to be a dead end. Finally he looked up.

The girl's eyes had widened even more. She was a Slytherin. Harry thought she might have been the 'Avery, Michelle'. He tended to remember familiar Death Eater last names.

"You…you're…" Her eyes were on his scar.

"Yeah, I am." Harry grimaced. "So where do you need to go?"

She seemed distracted and took his arm, but only to start pushing up his sleeve.

"Er…What are you doing?" Harry started to push her away, but she was determined about something.

"Potter! Avery! What's going on here?" Harry looked up and saw Audra Fletcher coming towards them. She must have heard them from the main hallway. She looked suspiciously at Harry.

Harry was still trying to fend off Michelle's hands on his left arm, but without much success. He could swear she seemed to have three sets of hands.

Audra was looking at Michelle a little queerly now. "What's with her?"

"I haven't a clue! I came across her when she was trapped in the passageway and led her to this floor." Harry said, getting a little frustrated.

"It was you. I know it was you." Michelle started babbling. "I recognized your voice in the dark from before and you said the same sort of words! It has to be you. I just need to see your arm!"

"When were you with her in the dark before, Potter?" Audra's voice was loaded with suspicion and she had her wand trained on him.

"I don't know what she's talking about. What words?" Harry's mind was racing trying to think of what he'd said.

"This summer. I even got some blood on my jacket. When my mum saw that she broke down and cried for an hour." Harry didn't know what was going on but he was getting nervous of the look in Audra's eyes and the way her wand was fixed on him.

"Roll up your sleeve, Hero." Audra's voice brooked no argument and had a dangerous tone to it. Harry stopped fighting Michelle's hands and she pushed the loose robe sleeve up his arm. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt underneath so nothing stopped her pushing it up all the way to his shoulder. High on his shoulder she revealed a newly healed scar.

"See! Right there! That's proof that it was you!" She was pointing emphatically at the scar. Harry blinked. That was the scar he'd gotten a couple of weeks before school started from that cutting hex in South London…

"That was you behind me?" He tilted his head to the side to peer at the girl.

"All right. What's going on? What's this about talking in the dark, blood, and making her mother cry? I need an explanation!" Audra had a no nonsense tone and shoved them both into a nearby empty classroom.

Michelle started to shake. Audra led her to a chair set along the wall. With sarcasm lacing her voice, she looked at Harry and said, "Well, Hero?"

Harry looked at Michelle. "There was an incident this summer and I helped her mother out."

"I'd like a little less condensed version, please." Audra glared at Harry.

Michelle spoke up. "My mother was being forced to go with three Death Eaters to get marked and he came by on his motorcycle, took them out and got us away. Mum knew one of them. He used to come to our house sometimes. Whenever he would come she would make sure we stayed in our rooms. We had one room we could lock from inside and she would let us know when it was okay to unlock it after he would leave."

Audra was trying to take it in. "What was with the 'voice in the dark' thing?"

"It was dark that night and we couldn't see his face. At first we could hardly see _him_!"

Harry muttered "Disillusionment charm." when Audra gave him a sharp glance. She returned her gaze to Michelle.

"A little ways away he stopped and I remember him saying something about 'No worries' and 'if we need help, Professor Dumbledore would help us'. When he mentioned just now if I was lost a Prefect would help the phrase clicked with what happened that night."

"The blood?"

"He had been hit by some spell by one of the Death Eaters and was bleeding."

Harry again muttered, "Cutting hex, mostly deflected."

"Your mother crying?"

"Father'd changed so much this last year. Mother decided to use this time that he's in Azkaban to get us away from all that. She had been so scared that night. Everyone knows that once you're marked you can't get away, at least alive. I think when she saw his blood on my jacket it brought it back how close it had been." Michelle's eyes grew wide. "Wait until I tell her that it was _Harry Potter_ that saved us!"

Harry winced. "I really would appreciate if you wouldn't do that. Technically I wasn't supposed to be there that night and I could get into some big trouble if it got out that I was."

Michelle's eyes widened again as a thought came to her. "You told us you weren't anyone important when we asked who you were!"

Harry put a hand on Michelle's arm to try to get her to listen to him. "Michelle. Really. I would like it if you could just forget that you learned it was me. I'm serious that I would get into trouble for being out that night. I'm not ever supposed to go out." The last part was muttered more to himself than to Michelle.

Michelle looked confused. "But why?"

"There are a few people around who are a little upset I made it to my second birthday."

Michelle looked at him and said quietly, "Like my father."

"Yeah. But there are some other people who want to protect me and they would be upset if they knew I had left my protection."

Audra looked at him in amusement. "You snuck out? I thought you were a Gryffindor? They're not the ones known for breaking rules. We Slytherins are. Then again, you and your friends do seem to get into trouble a lot."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm a bad influence on them."

"Are you saying that 'Gryffindor's Golden Boy' isn't all Gryffindor?" Audra's eyebrows were raised.

"I think there are a lot of students who actually fit more than one house. I know Hermione Granger was considered for Ravenclaw." Harry left it at that.

Michelle's voice piped up. "I was considered for Hufflepuff."

Audra looked at Harry consideringly. "You know, I'm going to have to either stop calling you 'Hero' or start meaning it."

* * *

Audra promised Harry she would keep an eye on Michelle and explain some of the current rules to live by in the Slytherin Common. Harry took that as 'don't proclaim any admiration of Harry Potter if you want to live.'

At their next tutoring meeting, Harry asked how Michelle was doing. Audra said she seemed to be doing fine. She got her to listen carefully to how other's are talking around her before speaking herself. Michelle noticed that one of her close friends actively talked against Harry Potter. Harry frowned. He tried to review the names he'd heard at the sorting. It seemed there was one other somewhat familiar surname.

"Fermot?"

Audra looked surprised. "Yes. How did you know?"

"I know of a Death Eater by that last name. I think he was sent to Azkaban earlier this summer for the attack against the Chang's. Tell Michelle to be careful. I would hate her friendship to only have been a trap to get to her and her family.

"I tell her, but I don't think that you need to be overly worried. I keep my ears open in our dungeons and I've not heard anything like the story Michelle told last night. I don't think the Death Eaters advertise their failures. I doubt the little Fermot girl even knows there was any trouble at all."

* * *

On Tuesday, Harry had another Occlumency lesson. This one started with a little excitement. His scar had been bothering him on and off and he was absently rubbing it as he entered the Headmaster's office.

"Good evening, Harry." Harry looked up at the Headmaster's greeting and felt it.

A snake was uncoiling inside of him. He had an impulse to lift his wand and start cursing his Headmaster. Professor Dumbledore's eyes narrowed for a moment and then he looked over Harry's shoulder. "Fight it, Harry! Pull up your protection!"

Harry anxiously scrambled to recall what he was supposed to remember. His hand started lifting with his wand. Song! Phoenix song! Harry frantically reached deep inside and dragged some up by it's feathers. He filled his head with the music. The snake retreated and Harry's wand hand relaxed.

"I'm okay, sir." Harry moved to the seat in front of the desk and collapsed into it. "Is that Legilimency or possession? Is there a difference?"

Harry saw the professor chance a small glance at him and relax. "I believe it's a bit of both. The attack is definitely against the mind, which is Legilimency, but it also attempts to control you, which would be possession. Most likely you could have used either Occlumency or the feelings you used last spring to expel him. My theory is that Lord Voldemort, in all the years he possessed creatures before his rebirth, has become extremely adept at it. And with the link the two of you share…well, it's the same as you did with the snake episode and Mr. Weasley."

"You mean he was actually seeing through my eyes like I did his? I could have controlled his actions? But I would have tried, Professor! All I could feel that time was his feelings of having to bite him." Harry was upset that he possibly could have stopped it, but hadn't been able to.

"You must remember, Harry, that Lord Voldemort is a very powerful wizard and has decades more experience in possession than you do. He is bound to be more advanced than you will ever be. He has to be as that was his mode of survival for twelve years. Do not be angry with yourself for not having the dark knowledge that he has. And, please, do not attempt to possess him!"

"What about the times I'm not sharing his body, but see what's going on? Like last summer with the meeting about the Chang's. Do you think he can do that? He could be here now!"

Dumbledore leaned forward and smiled. He steepled his fingers under his chin and said, "I suspect he is not aware of your presence then and I do not believe he knows how to do it either. As much as you use the link to travel to him, you do not reside in his body when you do. I do not know how, but somehow you stop yourself before you enter him so he cannot feel your presence. This is just a theory, but I'm pretty sure of my conclusion. That is not to say that you should put yourself at risk opening yourself up to the connection. I do not feel this is something to be trifled with." He gave a warning frown.

"Yes, sir."

* * *

As the Hogsmeade weekend approached, Harry kept feeling odd lurches of emotion disassociated with what he was feeling. He hated these feelings. He watched the approach of the full moon.

The full moon passed and the Hogsmeade weekend was here. On that Saturday morning, Harry made his way from the Great Hall to the Entrance Hall. He was going to meet Hannah there. He saw Hannah waiting for him. Ernie, Susan and a few others were keeping her company. When she looked up she broke away from them and came towards Harry with a smile. "Well, I'm ready for my surprise."

Harry gave her a lopsided grin and held out his arm. "Shall we go, then?" She took his arm, gave a small laugh and together they joined the queue to be check out by Filch.

The walk down to Hogsmeade was pleasant, but a little chilly. Autumn had definitely set in. Harry expected it to warm up later in the morning, but for now he was glad of his heavy cloak. He gave a glance over to Hannah. She seemed comfortable enough. They talked of general things; the DA, how the new members seemed to be integrating in, and how both of them were glad they no longer had Snape as their professor. Soon they reached the edge of the town.

Harry was just going to lead Hannah to the trail up to the Shrieking Shack when he heard Cho's voice coming from the side. "Harry! Hannah. Fancy meeting the two of you here. Where are you heading? Maybe we can make it a little party of three." Cho had come up to them and wormed her way between the two of them, taking Harry's arm.

Harry quietly swore to himself. "We were just taking a walk around the edge of town to warm up, then we're heading for the Three Broomsticks." Harry didn't know how to get rid of Cho without being rude.

Hannah stepped in to save the day. She took a step closer to Cho and said in a confiding voice, "No offense, Cho, but Harry and I want to have the morning to ourselves. You understand, don't you?" Harry couldn't believe it when she gave a slight wink to Cho.

Cho's face turned frustrated and angry. "Of _course_ I understand. Well, I guess I'll see you around. Maybe I'll find Michael. He talked of taking me to Madame Puddifoot's. Now that's a nice, _romantic_ place." She looked at Harry as if expecting him to show signs of jealousy.

"I think you'd like that. Why don't you go find him?" Inside he was shuddering, remembering that place.

Cho let out a quiet shriek, turned around and stomped away. Harry looked around. No one else was near. He started to take Hannah's arm again to lead her up the path when he heard a cough and sniffle. Even Hannah jumped. "Did you hear something."

Harry put a hand to his head. "Merlin! I forgot about the guard," he muttered to himself. "Hannah, this might take a little longer than I had thought, but would you come to the Three Broomsticks with me?"

She looked confused but said, "It's a bit early, but of course, Harry."

The two took off back up the street to the Three Broomsticks. Now that he was listening for it he could hear a shuffle behind him. When they reached the tavern, Harry settled Hannah at a table and went to get them some butterbeers. He was bringing them back to the table when he saw a witch under heavy veils come in and plunk herself down at the bar. So Dung was his watcher. He was using the same disguise he used last year at the Hogs Head. Harry was relieved. He could manage this.

Harry kept a covert watch on the witch at the bar while he chatted with Hannah. When Dung was on his second drink Harry told Hannah to head towards the loo and slip out the back entrance. He would meet her there shortly. She gave him a very strange look at this, but complied.

After waiting for a few minutes, Harry got up from the table and headed for the loo himself. At the last moment he ducked down and snuck out the door. He met Hannah outside. He grabbed her hand and started running. "Come on!" Hannah was startled, but she ran, too.

After they had gone a short way, Harry stopped and pulled Hannah around the corner of a building. He peered around the corner and soon saw the heavily-veiled witch come out the back door of the Three Broomsticks, swearing like a sailor in a low, gravelly voice. Harry gave a little chuckle. Hannah had looked, too. "Do you know that witch?"

"Yeah, I know him. I think we just bought ourselves a little bit of time, but we'd better not take too long." The heavily-veiled witch had gone back inside the tavern. "Let's go."

Harry led them in a roundabout way to the Shrieking Shack. When they got there, several small house elves came out from the trees. Two had nice small cloaks, the other two just had towels over their shoulders. "Harry Potter, sir! We are here."

"Hi," Harry smiled as he saw Tiz, Tubow and two other house elves make their way down. As they got closer Harry could see the two cloaks had his stylized 'P' on them. He looked over to Hannah. Her look of confusion was giving way to surprise and then delight.

"Tubow!" Hannah cried happily.

"Miss Hannah." Tubow had a wide grin on his face.

"I'll let the two of you talk. I've got a little business to attend to. We'll just be up the path a bit." Harry led Tiz and the two unknown elves up a little path to a secluded picnicking spot.

Tiz explained that one elf specialized in groundskeeping and the other was a chef. Harry performed the ritual with the two elves. Both of their ragged coverings transformed into uniforms covered with serviceable cloaks. The kitchen elf even had a little chef's hat.

The old grounds elf looked at his outfit with wonder. "It is being so warm!" He turned his old eyes to Harry. "Thank you, sir! Thank you so!"

Harry just gave a nod and settled on the ground. Harry spent some time getting to know his two new elves. They were nervous but Harry tried to put them at ease. He asked Terran, the groundskeeper what all could be done before winter set in. Terran admitted there were only a few things that could be done to help prepare for next spring, but he could get the greenhouses back in shape. Harry hadn't realized he had greenhouses. He asked Kreelo what types of foods he liked to make. Kreelo said his specialty was treacle tart. Harry's eyes got wide and he said he couldn't wait until he could try some. Harry asked Tiz how Gilly was doing. The last time he'd seen him he hadn't been feeling that great.

The two new elves watched with wide eyes. Harry wondered if it really was that rare for a master to ask after a house elf's welfare.

"Gilly is just being tired lately. He tries to get all his jobs done but he gets sleepy too fast. Tiz tries to tell him to slow down, but he just worry bout getting job done. I's tell him you ask bout him. That make Gilly feel good."

Harry smiled at her and they made their way back to the Shack. Hannah looked up from where she was sitting with Tubow. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears. She got up and ran to Harry, throwing her arms around him and giving him a kiss. Harry just stood there in surprise.

"I want to thank you, Harry. Tubow's told me what it's like working at your place and I feel so much better now. It was so nice of you to have him brought here so we could talk." She finally stepped back, still holding on to his arms.

Harry blushed, feeling awkward again. "I'm glad to have him helping me. As I've been muggle-raised I really have no idea how this stuff is supposed to work. Tubow's been a great help in getting things set up for me to have a home."

Harry turned to Tubow. "Tubow, could you make sure we have some jackets or cloaks on hand this winter that new house elves could wear before I get to meet them? And would it be possible to look to hire or whatever some strong younger elf to help Gilly? I would only want them to be on hand to do what Gilly wants them to do. He would be in charge of what he wants to teach them about his job. I just want him to feel he can take it a bit easier."

Tubow nodded. "Of course, sir."

Terran stepped forward. "Master? Terran could try to help old Gilly a bit until another could be found. Terran will also be needing some help with the grounds come spring so the new elf could be doing some of that work when Gilly not be needing him."

Harry smiled gratefully at the little old elf. "That would be wonderful, Terran. I really appreciate your offer to help. Anything with the greenhouses or grounds can wait if you think Gilly would like some help. He is a higher priority to me."

"Terran has seen old Gilly. Terran be already knowing this, master." Harry looked surprised but nodded.

"Well, thank you all for coming. You can get back all right?" The elves nodded. "Then take care." Tiz grabbed Tubows arm and with a loud crack they were all gone.

"Shall we return to Hogsmeade? I expect that as soon as I show my face I will be in trouble and sent back to Hogwarts, but maybe we can find some of your friends before I do." Hannah nodded in agreement wondering again about what kind of life Harry must lead.

As they walked down the path, Hannah started a conversation. "So, how many house elves do you have?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Ah…six so far. Gilly, Winky, Tubow, Tiz, Kreelo and Terran."

Hannah gave a short laugh. "That is such a strange thought. That they actually are yours. I mean, my family has always had house elves, but their family elves. Not mine."

Harry shrugged. "I don't think of them as mine, like possessions, mine. Some of them are friends or like family and the others I've just taken the responsibility to care for them while they help me."

"I can tell you actually care for them. I have to admit Tubow never looked so nicely dressed while he was with us."

Harry frowned. "What is with the clothes thing? I totally don't understand it. I mean, Winky got this beautiful little dress, but Tiz just has a pretty normal uniform dress. Tubow's is nice, but the other new elves just have uniforms. While I was talking to Gilly his towel toga thing changed right on him into a fancy guard uniform. I totally don't understand!"

Hannah was laughing at him by the time he ended his little tirade. "Sometimes I forget how much you don't know. I've known your name all my life, but you know so little about our world!" Harry just rolled his eyes. "A house elf's clothes are an outward sign of his position. Most house elves are generally dressed in old linens or cast off drapes or pillowcases because, frankly, they are not a very respected creature. The higher the position held or the more the master respects the elf, the better the clothing. I admit I have seen very few house elves, and of those only head house elves with actual normal looking clothes. Usually the most they could hope for is some nice tea towel or something they can wear as a toga."

"That's how Terran knew that I cared about Gilly? Because Gilly had a nice uniform?"

"I would guess so. Why do they have two different insignia's on their clothing?"

"Well, when I started with Winky, I hadn't been aware there was such a thing as the Potter Crest so I guess we just made our own up. Since then I've noticed that the Potter Crest goes on the uniform, but any accessories have that funny 'P'."

"It's pretty cool." They had reached the entrance to the Three Broomsticks again.

As their eyes got adjusted to the darkness inside, Harry heard his name being shouted. "Harry!" Hermione was apparently here.

Harry could see Hermione and Ron heading for them. Harry held a hand up and they stopped. Harry and Hannah made their way across the room. As Harry approached he noticed there was a big table filled with several members from the DA including Michael, Cho, Ernie, Susan, Luna, Neville, Terry, Ginny, Dean, Parvati, Seamus and Lavender. A couple of people started to slide over so they could join.

When Cho looked up her eyes widened, then narrowed. She gave a huff as she got up then grabbed Michael and dragged him out of the tavern. Hannah's eyes were lit with laughter.

Hermione started. "Harry, you are in _so_ much trouble. If we saw you, we were to take you back immediately."

"I know. I figured that. I just wanted to get Hannah settled first. I can explain…"

Ron was grinning from ear to ear. "No need to mate. Things look pretty clear to me."

Harry looked at him in bewilderment.

"Oh, Harry," Harry turned to face Ginny. Her voice had a bit of a bite to it that confused him. "Before you go you may want to fix your lipstick. It smudged."

Harry's eyes grew wide and his hand flew to his mouth. Sure enough there was a bit of a sticky substance on one side. His eyes flew to Hannah. She just burst out laughing. Ernie looked at her like he hadn't seen her before.

* * *

Ron and Hermione dragged him away from the Three Broomsticks and over to the Owl Post. Hermione explained that was where Dung was waiting. Sure enough, as they approached the Owl Post Harry saw a witch wearing heavy veils leaning against the wall.

"So you found the scamp, didja? Whadja go an' run orf for?" He saw Harry still trying to scrub at his mouth and understanding dawned in his eyes. "I'm beginin' to see. Well, ifin' you're going ta run orf for a bit of pash with a skirt, you be doing it on someone else's shift!"

Harry's face flamed red. He wanted to explain that it wasn't that way, but he couldn't exactly explain to the Order or Dumbledore that he needed to meet with some house elves who worked for him in a house he shouldn't even know existed. Harry just kept quiet.

Ron and Hermione left him and returned to their friends. Dung actually grabbed hold of Harry's ear and started to pull him along.

"Ow! Can you lighten up a bit? That's…ah!...really not necessary. I'll come along quietly."

"Potter!" Harry again heard his name being yelled out. It seemed quite the day for it. Audra was coming up the street quickly followed by Blaise. "What is going on here? Ma'am, where are you taking…Uncle Dung? Why are you wearing a dress?"

Dung finally let go of Harry's ear. Harry started rubbing it. It really hurt.

"Now don't you be paying old Uncle Dung any mind, see. I'm just takin' young Potter back up to 'ogwarts. You can just be mindin' your own business and let me be mindin' mine."

"Dung's your uncle?" Harry hadn't connected the names.

"Great uncle, yes." She turned back to Dung. "Your business isn't exactly what I'd be expecting Harry to be mixed up in." She looked suspiciously at them, expecting them to break out a load of stolen cauldrons or something Harry suspected. "And it is my business because I'm the Head Girl."

"'ead Girl, are you? Well, whadja know. Good on you. Niver made Prefect or 'ead Boy meself. I once said to your father, I says,…"

"Uncle Dung!"

"Oh, right. Well, like I says before, I'm just escortin' Mr. Potter back to 'ogwarts all nice an' quick. Right to the 'eadmaster. There's nothin' wrong with being a dab 'and with the skirts, but not on my shift!"

Audra and Blaise were looking at Harry now with raised eyebrows. Harry could feel the blush returning. He gave up. "I can't explain."

Audra's mouth quirked up at the corner. "I don't know exactly what's going on, but is it safe to assume some of your trouble finally caught up with you?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You could say that. And it is all right. We are heading back to Hogwarts," He gave a glare at Dung. "And I can make it under my own steam, thank you very much!"

Dung paid him no attention and grabbed his collar. "I'm takin' no more chances wiv you, Scamp. You can scarper faster than a five-fingered Charlie from a copper."

As he started hauling Harry back to the gates, Harry could hear Blaise and Audra laughing. This was embarrassing.

Harry soon found out that it wasn't as bad as it was about to get, though. As they approached the steps of Hogwarts, the doors opened and Snape was standing there.

"What is going on?" Harry wished they had run into any other professor than Snape.

"Oi, I haf ter admit that the Scamp's slipped 'is leash. Got 'im back though."

Snape sneered down his nose. "Pity. Potter, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Sorry? I'm back now. I promise I won't go back out the gates today?" Harry knew he was probably getting himself in more trouble for being flippant back to the Professor, but he just couldn't help it.

Snape's eyes narrowed. "Ten points from Gryffindor and detention."

Harry gritted his teeth. "Exactly what school rule did I break, Professor?"

"Lack of common sense and disrespect!"

Dung was shuffling from one foot to the other. "Now, see here. He wasn't up to no serious mischief. Just a bit of fun with a lass. Didn't mean to cause 'im no trouble. Where's Dumbledore?"

Snape shifted his glare to Dung. "The Headmaster is away. You will have to leave Potter in my hands. And he is always up to mischief. Now get up to your dorm, Potter, and stay there if you know what's good for you."

Dung gave Harry an apologetic look. Harry wordlessly accepted it with a shrug. Dung didn't mean to hand Harry off to Snape, but he wasn't about to go against the angry Potions Master and stick around.

Harry moved past Snape and headed for the stairs. Best he act like he was getting settled in for the day. He had about an hour before he had to leave again. Hopefully Snape would be somewhere else by then.


	9. Into the Forest

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 9 Into the Forest

Harry had his bag ready, his key was in his pocket, the invisibility cloak out and the map open. Snape was still pacing near the Front Entrance. Harry would admire his persistence if he wasn't so irritated by it. Harry had to think of another way to get out of here.

Harry covered himself with his cloak and made his way down to the Common room. Harry timed his exit of the tower well as he snuck out behind some second years heading for lunch.

Once he got near the Great Hall, however, he was stumped. He kept close to the wall near a suit of armor while he tried to think. It was getting busier as it was nearing lunch time. Most of the students were first and second years, but there were a few older students as well. Harry glanced around hoping for inspiration.

As his gaze was sliding over some Hufflepuffs, he stopped in surprise. Hannah was there. Luckily she was still near the door. Harry quickly drifted over to her. "Hannah!" he hissed in a whisper. As she started to turn he quickly added "Don't turn around. It's Harry."

She kept her voice low as she replied, "Harry? Where are you? What are you doing?"

"I'm right here. You can't see me because I'm wearing an invisibility cloak. I was wondering if you'd be willing to help me?"

She kept her gaze wandering around as if looking for a seat as she said, "What do you need?"

"I need a distraction. I have to get outdoors, but Snape is guarding the Front Entrance. I need someone to get him away from it for just a bit."

Hannah's eyes widened. "You don't ask for much, do you? You know I'm a Prefect?"

"It'd mean a lot to me."

Hannah started giggling. "I can hear the puppy dog eyes in your voice. You owe me one."

"Thanks, Hannah." Harry ghosted over nearer to the Hogwarts entrance doors. Close enough to act if an opportunity came, but far enough to keep out of Snape's reach.

There was a sudden yell and commotion coming from the Great Hall. Harry could hear loud wailing. Ernie came running out to the Entrance Hall looking around frantically. He spotted Snape. "Professor, come quick! Something happened to Hannah! She's bleeding."

Snape followed Ernie into the Great Hall and Harry took his chance to slip outside. He hoped Hannah was alright. He had to trust that she knew what she was doing and wasn't badly hurt.

Harry made his way as quickly as he could while keeping covered under his cloak. He was late. He found a stick and poked at the knob at the base of the Whomping Willow. The massive tree stilled and Harry slipped down the secret passage underneath. He eventually came out in the Shrieking Shack.

Harry looked around the ramshackle room. Dust lay everywhere. The only decorations were clawed and bitten furniture. Everything looked abandoned. Harry hoped it wasn't. "Remus?"

"I'm upstairs, Harry." Remus' voice floated down the stairway. It sounded very tired. Not surprising as the full moon was only just past.

Harry quickly ran up the stairs two at a time, his cloak under his arm and his bag bouncing against his back. "I'm glad you're still here. I had trouble getting out. Snape was guarding the front entrance."

"Professor Snape, Harry. And I'm sure he was just greeting the returning students from Hogsmeade."

Harry raised his eyebrows and Remus even looked a bit sheepish at having come up with the far-fetched idea of Snape greeting students. "Yeah. Sure. Funny way to greet them with his back to the door."

Remus shook his head and gave a tired grin. He got up and gave Harry a welcoming squeeze on his shoulder. "Well, all right. What can I do for you, cub?"

Harry grinned at him. He liked it when Remus called him that. He didn't do it often, but it made him feel almost like he belonged with him. Harry swung his pack off his back and set it on the bed next to Remus. "I have some questions I didn't know how to ask in the mirror. I'm sorry you had to come out today, but I really didn't know who else to ask."

Remus frowned a little. "You should know I'd always try to help you if you needed it. What's up?"

Harry opened his bag and pulled out his portfolio. "I'm…I'm taking a finance class this term. I thought it would help in figuring out how much I would need to live on and such…and well…" Harry put his key on the seal and pulled out the summary parchment. "I need to know ifthisisasmuchasIthinkitis." Harry handed the summary over to Remus. He scanned it and his eyes widened.

"Oh, James, I knew you were well off, but this…" He looked up to see Harry looking anxiously at him. "I think it's safe to say you won't have any financial worries. Ever."

"But what about the investments? Griphook says it's up to me to take care of that. I don't know what to do! We're learning a little about it but the class is almost done and I sure don't know enough to know how to handle _that_!"

Remus blushed a bit and looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you much, either. I just sold the few investments from the Black Estate. There weren't so many left. Sirius had gotten rid of most of them and all were rather shady anyway." He looked closer at the tiny writing filling the pages. "As far as I see it, you have three choices. You can just let them be. Some seem to be doing okay, but others…or you could cash them in. Unfortunately you would probably force a lot of these companies out of business if you did that, because you seem to be a major share holder in several of them. Or you can look for someone to hire to manage it for you."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "Who?"

Remus just shook his head. "I'm afraid that I don't know. I don't exactly run in those circles. Sorry, cub."

"That's all right. I'll figure something out." Harry figured if they hadn't been managed for fifteen years, they could hang on another while until he thought of something. "I want to thank you again for coming. I just wasn't sure who to ask. I feel better now that I've just talked to someone about it."

"Anytime, Harry. You know…" Remus broke off and tilted his head, listening to something. Harry was instantly on alert. He listened, too. Remus suddenly smiled and started for a boarded up window, silently beckoning for Harry to follow. The windows had been long broken out and all the glass gone and Remus reached for a knot in one of the boards that blocked the opening. He carefully pried it out and put his eye to it. He gave a slight laugh and backed away motioning for Harry to do the same. Harry did and could see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle outside of the shack. They were seated on the ground passing some sort of bottle around. Malfoy was talking.

"Instead of the most haunted place in Britain, they should call this the most _boring_ place in Britain."

Remus smirked over to Harry and whispered, "Shall we liven things up for him?"

Harry smirked back and nodded once.

Remus went across the room and under some blankets piled in a corner found some odd cylinders. He easily picked up two and gave one to Harry. He gestured with hand motions that Harry should slowly start to crank the handle of his on the count of three. Remus counted down on his fingers and he and Harry slowly started to crank the odd cylinders. Harry's emitted a low moaning sound. Remus' had a higher pitch but was also very spooky. They could still hear Malfoy outside. Harry kept watch through the knothole. They had all gotten to their feet.

"What's that noise? Do you think the ghosts have come back?" A tinge of panic was creeping into Draco's voice. Harry tried hard to keep from laughing. Remus motioned for Harry to give it a harder crank. He did and instead of a low moan, it became a low wail. Remus did his as well and his actually sounded very much like Moaning Myrtle when she got on a roll. It got that high pitch squeal that just climbed inside of your ears.

Malfoy had been farther away from the shack than the other two and found out it was not a good idea to be in the way of two large, very frightened teenaged boys. He picked himself back up off the ground and took off after the other two. Harry started to laugh out loud as he watched Malfoy and the others run away. Harry turned and with a grin reported what he witnessed out the window. Remus joined in his laughter.

After a minute Harry settled down to say goodbye to Remus. "I'd better get back. As soon as Malfoy gets back he'll go straight to Snape who will then want to blame me. Don't know why he always wants to blame me!"

Remus shook his head. "Couldn't tell you." He was still chuckling, too. He looked at the thing in his hand. "I never thought I'd use this again!" Harry looked up at him. "We used to pass the time until the full moon making this old shack 'come alive'. We never knew if anyone ever heard us, but we had fun." Remus shook off his memories. "Well, I'll be seeing you, Harry. Keep in touch with the mirror sometimes, all right?"

* * *

Harry made his way down to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. He looked over to the Hufflepuff table and saw Hannah sitting near Ernie and Megan Jones. He made his way over to their table.

He tapped on Megan's shoulder. "Excuse me. Do you mind if I sit here for a moment?"

Megan looked up at him, his scar, then over to Hannah and giggling, slid over. Harry sat down between Megan and Hannah.

He leaned over to Hannah and started talking quietly. He couldn't help but notice that Ernie was trying to eavesdrop. He also seemed quite antagonistic towards Harry. "I want to thank you for what you did for me yesterday."

Ernie turned red in the face and started to bluster. Harry could see his fist clench on the table. "What did she do? What all went on yesterday morning? What did you do to her?"

Harry closed his eyes and groaned. When he opened his eyes he saw Hannah staring incredulously at Ernie. "And about that…I apologize that everyone has the wrong impression about what we were doing yesterday morning. I'm just not sure how to correct it."

"You don't have to apologize. I meant for people to think that. I thought it might help you with Cho."

"Oh." Harry hadn't been expecting that. Ernie seemed somewhat confused.

"So…if what we thought didn't happen…what happened?" Ernie was still pompous, even when he was confused.

Hannah gave him a little glare. "Not that it's any of your business, but Harry did something really nice for me and I just gave him a little thank you kiss in return. When I saw my lipstick left a smudge, I just didn't do anything to let him know, hoping Cho might leave him alone if he was 'taken'." Hannah grinned. "And she did leave in quite a huff with Michael," she added in satisfaction.

All three of them briefly glanced over to the Ravenclaw table. Cho was just sitting there, staring very intently back at them. Michael was trying to get her attention, but she was just ignoring him.

Ernie shook his head. "I don't know if your plan worked, Han. I think you should give it up. She looks pretty determined over there. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Hannah just shook her head. "This is Cho we're speaking of. I don't believe she would physically hurt me. She would just try to undermine me or try to cause Harry to doubt me or suspect me of something."

Harry frowned. He thought Hannah probably had it right. If she was one of them who would hide Luna's things, that meant she liked to play mind games. "I can just go back to trying to dodge her." Ernie fervently nodded in agreement, but Hannah objected.

"I'll be fine. Besides, it's not as if our hearts are involved," Hannah explained.

Harry saw Ernie's expression turn quite smug. Harry decided to cut him down a peg. Harry suspected that he may like Hannah more than as a friend because, like Ron, he got pretty jealous when Hannah's attention turned towards another boy.

"Well, I don't know. I think mine could get involved pretty easily. You're very nice and a _very_ pretty girl, Hannah. And I do owe you one for yesterday afternoon. Feel free to start thinking of how you want to collect." Harry gave a suggestive wink along with his comment and Hannah looked faintly surprised and looked closer at Harry. Ernie started to glower. Harry gave a slight smirk and briefly tilted his head towards Ernie. Hannah turned so she could see Ernie from the corner of her eye and saw him glowering at Harry. Her face turned thoughtful. She looked down the table and noticed Susan Bones with several empty spots near her. Ernie had decided to sit near her when he came in instead of Susan. Now the question was 'why'? Was he just protecting a friend? Or did he feel any more than that? Hannah would watch and see if she could tell. She gave a brief thankful smile at Harry.

Ernie was getting all riled up again. "So what happened in the afternoon? _I_ was with Hannah in the Hospital Wing in the afternoon."

Harry frowned. "Oh, yeah. What did you do to yourself? You didn't really hurt yourself, did you? I hope you know I would never have wanted you to do anything like that."

Hannah gave an impish grin. "Nosebleed Nougat. I was fine." Ernie started to bluster. Hannah turned to him. "I tried to explain to you that I was really all right. You were just too busy trying to order Madam Pomfrey around." Ernie got a faint blush on his cheeks.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know prefects carried those kind of products around with them."

Hannah gave a sheepish look. "I had taken them off of some 2nd years and just happened to still have them with me." She gave a weak grin. Harry started to laugh. Hannah scowled, "So what did you need the distraction for, anyway? If you can tell me."

"I had made an appointment to meet someone and Snape was being a git trying to guard the door."

"Who were you going to meet? Not another girl, I hope." Harry was surprised. Hannah was lightly flirting with him.

He gave a light laugh. "No. I was meeting with a friend of my parents. You remember Professor Lupin?"

Ernie's eyes widened. "He was a friend of your parents? He was the best DADA teacher we had. Did they know he was a werewolf?"

"Yeah. My dad and his other friends figured it out back in their second year. That didn't bother them. Remus is a good guy. Unfortunately, I don't get to see him as much as I'd like. Usually only around full moons. Otherwise he's quite busy."

Hannah's eyes widened, too. "You go around him during the full moons?"

"Well, of course not during the full moon itself, but before and after it's alright. Even during would probably be okay with the wolfsbane potion, not that I'd trust it that much to test it out. It's kind of hard to see how rotten he always feels then, though." Harry frowned in concern.

Hannah suddenly gave a burst of laughter. "Harry, I don't know if you've heard, but something happened yesterday afternoon. It was so funny. Malfoy and his goons came running into the castle shouting about the Shrieking Shack being haunted again! I have to admit, they did look scared. The rumor is that they went running to Professor Snape and he could smell Firewhiskey on their breath. He restricted them from going on the next Hogsmeade weekend."

Harry laughed. "I hadn't realized that's what they were drinking. So that's why Snape didn't come after me for that one."

Ernie looked at him suspiciously. "You don't seem very surprised by their story. You've also got a pretty evil glint in your eye. What gives?"

Harry looked around and leaned forward towards Hannah and Ernie and spoke quietly, "Remus and I were meeting in the Shrieking Shack. We may have…er…done something to make them believe the Shack was haunted again." His grin widened at the memory of the two trolls running over Malfoy, trying to get away.

Both of his two companions eyes got very large. Ernie started with, "You met in a haunted building…?" While Hannah was saying, "_Professor Lupin_ helped you in pulling a prank like that? He always seemed so quiet!"

"It was never haunted. The story started when Remus went to school here. That's where he went on full moons. The noises were him." He smiled over to Hannah. "My father and his friends were quite the pranksters when they went to school. Remus was the one who came up with the idea of what to do to Malfoy."

Harry stopped talking abruptly as he spotted Professor McGonagall coming towards him. Her mouth was pursed with very thin lips. Her expression shouting disapproval. She was carrying a note in her hands. As she approached she handed Harry the note. Harry grimaced and took it. He unfolded it and sure enough, it was details of his detention. He felt a bit better seeing it was tonight with Hagrid.

Hannah was reading over Harry's shoulder. "Detention? Is this for yesterday? But we didn't go out of bounds! Why would Harry get a detention, Professor?"

Professor McGonagall's lips got even tighter. "Mr. Potter knows why." The Professor turned and left.

Hannah was looking curiously at Harry. Harry shrugged. "I knew I'd be in trouble. It was worth it. At least the detentions with Hagrid. That won't be so bad."

Hannah and Ernie both looked at him as if he had said something totally unbelievable. Ernie finally broke the stunned silence with, "I've heard he sometimes brings students into the Forbidden Forest. Your idea of 'not so bad' and mine obviously aren't the same."

* * *

Harry spent the morning studying with Ron and Hermione and the afternoon in the trunk, practicing and exercising. He was quite excited that he could hold his animating spell for over five minutes wordlessly and wandlessly. He knew his friends were still working on getting theirs to work. Well, he knew Ron and Hermione were. He wasn't sure if Ginny still wanted to try to become an animagus or not. He didn't see much of her anymore.

Finally it was time for Harry to leave to meet Hagrid. Harry left the trunk and grabbed his winter cloak. He wasn't sure what they would be doing, but the weather was turning chilly and he wanted to be prepared if they would be outside.

Harry made his way to Hagrid's Hut. He knocked on the door. Fang started barking like mad until Hagrid opened the door.

"'ello, Harry. Glad ter see yeh. Tonight I'm hopin' yeh can speak to the Runespoor abou' sharin' her eggs. No one can get near 'er. She tries ter bite anyone who comes to collect 'em. Even me." Hagrid seemed quite affronted that the snake creature wasn't always friendly to him.

As they neared the paddock, Harry could hear a wild thrashing sound. It sounded like a large battle. Hagrid ran forward to see what was happening. Harry wondered if something was attacking the Runespoor. He couldn't imagine many things that would try. Suddenly Hagrid gave a shout of pain. Harry ran into the paddock as well. Hagrid was holding two of the Runespoor heads in his hands and they were hissing at him fiercely.

"Are you all right, Hagrid?" Harry was worried. He knew Shamira's head was poisonous.

"Oh, I'll be fine. Just a bit of a nip. Took me by surprise is all."

Harry turned his focus on the snake creature. "Which one of you bit Hagrid?" he hissed in Parseltongue.

Sapna answered him. "I did. He'sss interfering."

"I did, too. Sssapna is right. We want to sssettle thisss once and for all. Shamira mussst go!" Sorena added.

Harry took a closer look at Shamira. She seemed quite bloody and was bleeding heavily. Harry had heard that sometimes the heads would attack each other, especially the 3rd head. That's why this one was such a rare specimen. It still had all three heads. Possibly not for long, though.

"What happened to make you attack your sssister?"

"She criticized us both! She said I am cluelessss and she called Sssapna foolish."

Shamira finally spoke up. "All Sssorena had us do the first few daysss here was lapsss around this place. Then Sapna takesss over and we ssstudy the sky for two weeksss! I am sssick and tired of being in jussst one place!"

Harry had wondered why the creature was always so placid during lessons recently. Harry focused on the two heads still in Hagrid's hands. "Shamira isss just frustrated. How about Hagrid and I take you out of here for a while tonight and you can all calm down. If Shamira settlesss down again, do you think you can not attack her?"

"If she stopsss criticizing usss, we will leave her alone." Sorena said.

Sapna just nodded rather dreamily. "I sssuppose."

Harry looked back to Hagrid, noticing the blood dripping down his hand. "And do not bite Hagrid again! Any of you!"

To Harry's surprise, all three heads bowed before him and all hissed, "Yes, massster."

Harry blinked at the title they gave him, but decided to ignore it. Harry looked up to Hagrid. "Shamira is a little bored. She's taking her frustration out on the other two and they didn't appreciate it. D'you think we could take her out somewhere for a while so Shamira could have a break from the paddock?"

"O'course. Shoulda thought of it meself. I'd had a hankerin' to visit Grawpy summat soon. Maybe they'd enjoy a short stroll through the Forest."

Harry gave a resigned smile. He'd had a feeling they'd be going in there. Well, at least he had his winter cloak. They made their way to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid slapped some plasters on his bites and gathered his crossbow and a lantern. While he was tending the bites, the Runespoor slithered over to Harry and started climbing his leg. It settled itself around his waist with all three heads poking out around his neck. The creature was heavier than he thought she would be but he didn't have to actively carry her, she just squeezed herself around him like an extra heavy belt.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked her in parseltongue.

"You are warm. We want to ssstay near you while we travel, Massster."

"Oh. All right, I guesss."

Hagrid was ready to go. "Yeh want me to carry 'er for yeh, Harry?"

"No. We're fine here."

"Got yer wand? Okay. Let's go."

As they entered the forest, Hagrid asked how he liked his gift for his birthday. Harry told him he liked it, but hadn't been able to practice much with it. He practiced drawing the crossbow back, but he didn't think shooting a crossbow inside of Headquarters would be a good idea. Hagrid agreed, but said maybe they could arrange some time to practice together near the forest. Harry liked that idea.

The deeper they went into the forest, the quieter they became. It was already dark but Harry could see well enough with Hagrid's lantern. Hagrid kept his crossbow at the ready, just in case they ran into trouble with either the centaurs or any other creature. On occasion, Shamira would hiss happily at something passing in the scenery. Eventually they reached Grawp's area. Harry noticed that the landscape didn't seem as torn up as the last time he had been here. There was a huge fire burning giving some light.

"Hagger! Good Hagger visit. Grawp an' Minno happy." Grawp was doing much better with his words. Harry was impressed. Grawp looked at Harry. "Hermy?"

"Hermy couldna come this time, Grawp. But Harry here's come for a visit," Hagrid told his brother.

"Har-rey meet Minno?"

Harry looked at Hagrid who was nodding at him. "Ah, yeah, I'd love to meet Minno."

Grawp's huge boulder head got a huge gaping grin on his face. "Har-rey, come." He started gesturing with one of his huge hands. Harry and Hagrid followed him. They entered a bit further in a cave and Harry couldn't believe his eyes.

Minno was at least twenty feet tall. She was taller than Grawp by quite a bit. She had wiry hair that curled close to her head. She didn't notice Hagrid and Harry at first. Grawp came near her to introduce them. "Minno, Hagger here an' Har-rey."

She turned and, well, Harry guessed she smiled. First she looked down at Hagrid. "Hagger." Then she looked intently in a myopic sort of way towards Harry. "Har-rey." Grawp nodded and smiled.

Hagrid looked pleased. "Well, we just wanted to stop by for a visit. We'll just be poppin' off now. Glad ter see your doin' well."

Harry also said his goodbyes and they started back for the castle. Along the way Hagrid told Harry how, when he'd explained he wanted to bring a lady friend for Grawp, Grawp told him to find Minno. Minno had been one of the giants that survived the cave attacks and had originally listened when Hagrid talked of Dumbledore. She and Grawp had been a bit sweet on each other. Hagrid had brought a photo of Grawp to help convince her to come with him back to England.

Suddenly Hagrid motioned for Harry to stop and stay quiet. Harry did immediately and then could hear what Hagrid had heard. There were centaurs talking to each other up ahead.

"The herd is getting anxious, Bane. They don't know what it means." A mournful voice sounded.

"It seems obvious to me, Ronan. It is a sign. When he comes, we must listen to what he has to say."

A third voice joined the first two. "But you know who it must be. What of our stance? He would never allow us to just observe!"

A low voice gave a warning, "Something is near! That way!"

Hagrid moved in front of Harry as the centaurs quickly surrounded them. There were six of them. Bane came to the front. "Hagrid, we have warned you before about entering our forest! And you bring another? Are you simply foolish or do you wish to die? Hand over your weapon! You both will be coming with us this time and be judged by the herd."

Hagrid started to protest. "We stayed as much to the edge of yer area as we could! This fores' doesna belong only to you, you stubborn mules! And you'll leave Harry be!"

Ronan added in his mournful tone, "Yes, Bane. He is still young."

Bane came to stand before Harry and looked at him scornfully. The Runespoor had hidden down inside Harry's cloak when all the angry voices started coming near. Harry stared back at Bane defiantly. He knew that of any of the centaurs, Bane would be the least likely to listen to him.

"This one has been in the forest often enough. He is young, true, but he is a young _man_!" Bane snarled the last word.

With his words half of the arrows pointed at Hagrid shifted to point at Harry as well. When that happened, Hagrid gave up his crossbow and lantern. Their weapons relaxed, but did not go down completely.

They started to march them through the forest. It was dark and Harry had no idea what time it was anymore. The centaurs seemed to have good night vision, but Harry had a hard time seeing roots sticking up and kept stumbling. He wished he dared do a _lumos_ charm, but knew to do magic near the centaurs would be a death warrant. Eventually the path became smoother, obviously more traveled, and they reached a large encampment. When they entered, Harry couldn't believe how many there were. He figured there were probably a hundred fifty or more. Most seemed to be out in a huge square looking up at the sky and muttering to each other; even the children.

Bane shouted for their attention and suddenly they were the focus of every eye. Harry was feeling nervous. The Runespoor could feel his tension and Shamira asked if he was all right or if he wanted her to bite someone. Harry gently placed his hands on the coils around his waist and quietly hissed that he would be fine and she didn't need to bite anyone. He hoped he was telling the truth.

An older centaur was talking with the group that brought them in. Harry wondered if he was the elder or king or whatever they called it. He looked even wilder than Bane but held an authority that was unmistakable. Once again Harry's age seemed to be a factor. Bane was explaining his reasoning of why Harry was to be tried as an adult. Finally the older centaur nodded with agreement. The rest of the herd started to mutter again.

Finally the older centaur called for Hagrid and Harry to be led to a platform so everyone could see them. He then asked Bane, "Has the young wizard's wand been removed?"

Bane's nostrils flared and he seemed to shift in embarrassment. He jerked his head to two of the centaurs standing guard near Harry and they started to go through his cloak pockets. Harry's wand was actually strapped to his arm in a new wand holder he had bought over the summer.

The lead centaur started to glare at Bane. "You did not take it from him when he attacked you with it?"

"He had never shown it."

The older centaur now shifted his gaze to Harry. "Not even to defend?"

"No. He never showed it at all. Maybe he does not carry one."

The older centaur looked at Bane with a shade of contempt. "All wizards carry one. Have you found it?" he asked the two guarding Harry.

"It is not in his pockets, Edroi."

The leader's gaze focused on Harry. "Where is your wand?"

Harry kept his head up as he answered, "On my arm."

"Remove it."

Harry figured that releasing the trigger to shoot the wand right to his hand would be a bad thing in this situation, so he'd have to manually remove the whole holder. He started to unbutton his cloak. He kept his movements slow but steady.

He was carefully watched by all the centaurs. As he shrugged off the cloak and let it fall to the ground, there was a building roar through the crowd as a name was repeated over and over. "Ophiuchus!".

The leader stepped back a pace as did the guards standing near Harry. Harry thought the name they spoke was familiar, but couldn't quite place it. The three heads of the snake were each hissing in objection to the sudden cold. Harry wasn't sure what was going on, but figured he'd better keep proceeding with removing his wand until otherwise told. He quickly removed the entire holder with the wand still inside it and tried to hand it to the nearest centaur who no longer seemed to want to touch it. Harry gave up and slowly set it on the ground in front of him, then picked up his cloak and put it back on. He looked back out to the crowd of centaurs in front of him and saw they all seemed to be staring at him with the same fascination he'd only seen them use when gazing at the stars. He was feeling a little uncomfortable. He hated being stared at, and even though he knew some wandless magic, he hated not having his wand.

The leader started to speak to Harry again. "It has been foretold that you would come to our camp. We will listen to what you have to say."

Harry looked to Hagrid. He wasn't much help as he looked just as confused as Harry felt. Harry wondered what he was supposed to be saying. He figured maybe he should start with their defense.

"It's true that Hagrid and I came into the forest. We wanted to visit Hagrid's brother. Hagrid said that the path we took stayed away from your usual paths. Is this true?" He looked to Ronan.

Ronan slowly nodded. "We do not usually travel that far west."

Harry continued, "We had no more plans to disturb you than we did the acromantulas or other forest creatures."

Bane burst in aggressively, "What about last year? Coming into the forest with that woman and human girl?"

"That woman had us trapped. Hermione had the idea, admittedly not a very good one, of leading her into the forest," Bane started to speak, but Harry cut him off. "Not to make any creature in here help us as such, but to give us the chance to get away from her. Think about it. Where was Hermione leading us? Here?"

Bane drew back. Edroi looked sternly at Bane. "Answer the question, Bane."

"No. They were headed towards the acromantula den."

"Now I would much rather meet any centaur in this forest than the acromantula. At least centaurs have given us a chance before trying to eat us." Harry actually heard a few whinnying snickers. He suspected they were well familiar with the acromantula desire to eat first and question later.

Bane was still not willing to lose any face. "What of your desire to tell of how you made the centaurs do your bidding?" There were murmurs through the crowd at that.

"We were never going to do any such thing. And we have not. We understand you are a separate race. We know you didn't do anything at our bidding. You just recognized as we already had, that she was an unpleasant human. She is a problem for _all_ beings, humans included. Hermione was only hoping for something to happen in the forest that would allow us to escape her. It just happened that you were the first to confront us."

Magorian stepped forward. "But that doesn't excuse Hagrid from returning to the forest. We had warned him time and again to keep away after he helped the traitor Firenze."

Harry felt he was treading in water way beyond his depth, but they were listening so far. "Let me ask you a question. Are you aware of the evil currently out there? I know you must be. Mars has been bright for quite some time. You know wizards are at war. You must be aware of what each side stands for. Firenze is also aware. He is aware that if we lose to the evil out there, centaurs won't be safe anymore. I'm not saying that life has been great for your race with the wizards currently in control, but if Lord Voldemort" Harry was a little surprised that even centaurs gasped at the name. "comes into a ruling power there is little hope for you. He doesn't even like wizards that aren't pure blooded. Now I realize that yours is an ancient race, but you are aware that not all wizards have accepted this. Some look upon you as a half-blooded race." Harry took a deep breath. He wasn't sure how far to tread. He was just trying to play it by ear. "I remember several years ago there was something evil in the forest. Were you all aware of it then?"

There was some nervous pawing of the ground before Harry continued. "Firenze made a stand then against the evil. He is doing the same now. Making a stand against the evil that has been resurrected. He believes the best way to do that is to temporarily ally himself with wizards. He is not working in servitude to them as some of you believe, but working alongside. Not because he believes wizards are superior, because I do not think he believes that at all, but because he believes it to be the best chance to save all creatures, especially centaurs. He is proud to be a centaur and I know that being cut off from the herd hurts him deeply."

Edroi seemed to be considering Harry's words. "What of our secrets? What is he teaching these wizard children?"

"I was in his class last year. The class is the Divination class. He has taught that the centaurs have to study for years to be able to interpret what the movement of planets and stars may mean and that any foretelling of the future isn't foolproof. Things can change or be interpreted wrong." There was some murmuring at this. "Is he wrong? Has that not been proved correct in the past? He is not betraying any deep secrets of the centaurs. He is showing wizards a different culture and earning their respect. I understand you do not like to mix with wizards and that is fine, but then don't be surprised when wizards come up with strange ideas about your race. Firenze is showing a whole group of wizarding children how false those ideas can be. That is one way he is helping Professor Dumbledore in our fight against Lord Voldemort."

There was silence as Harry finished. He felt like he'd been talking for a long time and he really couldn't think of anything more to say so he just stayed quiet. He was still very nervous. He wondered why they listened to him. That surprised him. They all seemed rather subdued. More so than Harry had ever seen them. Harry still saw some of then sneaking glances at him and then back to the sky.

Edroi had one last question. "What would you want from us, wizard?"

"Me?"

"As a speaker on behalf of your kind, what would you want from us in this war?"

Harry blinked. "Only what you're willing to do. One thing I _would_ like is if, even if you don't actively participate in the war that you don't condemn others like Firenze and Hagrid for taking their stand in actively defying the evil. If you are willing to take a stand as well, I'm sure Professor Dumbledore knows better than I where your different talents would best be used. And I would hope that if Voldemort or his Death Eaters would come to you and force you to decide, I would hope you would decide to join us rather than them."

Edroi frowned. "You would not want to force us to work for you?"

Harry shook his head. "I am just one person, but I believe I can speak for Headmaster Dumbledore on this. Ever since I started school, he has told me about choice. Our choices make us who we are. Not our talents; not our fame; not our race; but our choices. I choose to fight. That has nothing to do with me being a wizard, the Boy Who Lived, or even constantly being Lord Voldemort's target. I choose to fight." Harry gave a half smirk. "Not that I can or am allowed to do much yet. But I'll do what I can."

Edroi stared at Harry for a few more moments. Then he looked to the centaurs near him. The looked solemnly back and gave nods. Edroi then spoke to Harry. "We will allow you two to leave. Hagrid may pass through our forest without harassment. We will hold a council meeting tomorrow night. Tell Firenze he should come, Harry Potter."

Harry gave a nod in thanks. He motioned down towards his wand. "May I?"

The centaur nodded solemnly back. "You may."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief and started to undo his cloak again. As he took it off he again noticed that every eye was on the Runespoor around his waist. The creature hissed a bit again at the chill. Harry patted her body and quickly refastened his wand to his arm. Again he heard the slightly awed tones saying the name "Ophiuchus". Harry looked over to Hagrid. He had been given his crossbow and lantern back and was anxiously shifting from foot to foot. Harry gave one last smile to the centaurs and Hagrid led Harry away from the encampment.

After they had gone quite a ways into the forest, Hagrid finally slowed down. Harry had done a _lumos_ spell, but he had had to full out run trying to keep up with Hagrid's hurried steps away from the centaurs. Harry was glad he kept up on his exercising. Even with the exercising, there was a great deal of difference from jogging on a treadmill or riding a stationary bike from jumping over bushes and roots and dodging branches. The Runespoor was not enjoying the ride, either.

Hagrid lifted a huge tablecloth-sized handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his brow. "Gulpin' Gargoyles, Harry. I thought we were done for! An' with them pointin' their arrows at you, there wasna much I could do."

"Any idea why they listened this time? They don't usually bother much, do they?"

"Dunno. But I know we hafta tell Dumbledore. Tha' was mighty strange."

* * *

Hagrid led them right up to the castle. Harry wondered if Hagrid even remembered he was still carrying the Runespoor. It was warmer inside the castle and Harry undid a few buttons on his cloak, trying to keep the bulk of the creature he was carrying from view. He didn't want to scare anybody. Hagrid started for the stairwell, but then stopped as he noticed something down the hall. He changed direction and led Harry towards Firenze's classroom. The Headmaster was sitting with Firenze.

"…are you sure? This could create a very grave situation if the Dark Side should learn of it." Professor Dumbledore seemed quite concerned over some information Firenze had just told him.

"I noticed it earlier this evening just after dusk. I am sure of my interpretation. There can be no doubt. They will see it as a sign to be receptive to whatever he has to say. If You-Know-Who learns of it, he could just walk right in and they would not object."

Hagrid took advantage of the break in the conversation. "Excuse me, Professor Dumbledore, sir. I've got summat to report to yeh. And yeh, too, Firenze."

Professor Dumbledore turned his concerned eyes towards Hagrid. Harry just hung back near the door. "Go ahead, Hagrid."

"Well, Harry and I were out…er…just taken a walk through the fores'," Dumbledore's eyebrows raised at this but he did not interrupt. "An' we were set upon by some of the centaurs." Hagrid then proceeded to relay the events of the evening to them. He basically talked of them being captured and then brought to the encampment. He mentioned them wanting to disarm Harry and then acting very unlike themselves and ending up letting them both go with Hagrid allowed to roam the forest again and Firenze requested to attend a council meeting. He finished with, "It 'twas the ruddiest thing I ever saw. Beggin' yer pardon Firenze."

Professor Dumbledore turned toward Firenze. "Would it be because they recognized who Harry was?"

Firenze shook his head. "That would make no difference. It made no difference before."

Hagrid inserted, "They didna seem to know it 'twas Harry. They called him summat else."

Firenze turned to Harry. "What happened when they asked you to disarm? Can you show us?"

Harry shrugged. "Nothing much happened. I was carrying my wand in an arm holster and didn't think it a good idea to shoot it out so I took off my cloak to unstrap it from my forearm. That's when they started acting different. Started asking questions and actually listening to what I said in reply."

Professor Dumbledore was starting to get a twinkle going in his eye and almost seemed to squirm in anticipation, except he didn't actually move. "Can you show us, Harry?"

Harry shrugged again and undid the rest of his cloak. He took it off and let it drop to the ground and started to unstrap his wand holder.

"Ophiuchus!" Both Dumbledore's and Firenze's voices sounded together. Dumbledore's in triumph and Firenze's in shock.

"Tha's what they said!" Hagrid was staring in surprise at the other two professors.

Dumbledore's twinkle was back to full tilt behind his half-moon glasses and all the concern he had when they first interrupted them seemed to have melted away. "May I ask, Harry, why you decided to carry that Runespoor around tonight?"

"They were fighting. Shamira was getting stir crazy and insulting the other two. We were taking her for a walk so she could get a change of scenery. She didn't like the cold and said I kept her warm so I carried her.

Dumbledore started laughing, it seemed almost with relief. "I will need to know everything that was said tonight. Harry, could you return the Runespoor back to the paddock and Hagrid, will you be willing to use my pensieve to share your memories of tonight?"

"O'course, Professor Dumbledore, sir." Hagrid helped the Headmaster up. Firenze was still staring at Harry in shock.

Harry nodded to the three professors and left the room. Once outside he met eyes with a furious Draco Malfoy. For once Harry wasn't sure who was receiving the more hateful glare; him or the Runespoor.

* * *

When Harry entered the common room a short while later, he was relieved to still see Ron and Hermione sitting at one of the tables. He hurried over to them.

Hermione looked up at him with a frown. "Well, I hope you've learned your lesson, Harry. You can't go off leaving your guard. It could have been dangerous."

Harry brushed her off, "Yeah, whatever." Hermione did not looked pleased at his response. "Look, I've got to ask you something. Something that kept coming up tonight. Who is Ophiuchus?"

Ron looked blank. Hermione shook her head in exasperation at the two of them. "Don't you remember anything? Astronomy? It's a star constellation." At Ron and Harry's continued blank looks, she continued. "You remember, The Serpent Handler?" Harry started to get pale. Ron continued to just stare at Hermione without a clue. "Oh, come on! You must remember! You always laughed at it because the way the serpents head is formed it looks more like a three headed snake than a one headed snake!" She turned a curious look on Harry. "Why?"

Harry just sat with a thud.

* * *

A/N – The scene of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle running from the Shrieking Shack was inspired from a long ago memory I had of a Bill Cosby monologue from Fat Albert.

Also, I have a picture of the Ophiuchus constellation that shows the outline and the '3-headed-snake' look, but I have no idea how to post it to our bio. If you want to see it, you'll have to let us e-mail it to you, I guess.


	10. The Invitation

Disclaimer: No money is being made by this. It is JK Rowlings world that our imagination just played in.

Chapter 10 The Invitation

Monday morning started off just fine. The night before had gotten late as Harry had explained all that happened during his detention, but his morning classes were interesting. He and Ron headed for lunch after their morning classes were over. There were just listening to Hermione talk of how her morning had gone when she suddenly fell silent and stared behind them.

"Mr. Potter!" Harry cringed. He'd been enjoying this year in that he'd so far had very little contact with Professor Snape. Something must have happened to make him extremely angry. His voice was dripping with venom.

Harry slowly turned. Snape was holding an arm that was lightly bleeding. Harry blinked in surprise.

"Did you, or did you not, have just one simple thing to do in your detention last night?" He was looking like he was in a very nasty mood.

"Er…"Harry could think of a lot of things he had done in his detention last night. He wasn't sure what Snape was talking about.

Snape sneered at Harry's uncomprehending look. "The eggs, Potter. Did you talk to the bloody snake about it's eggs?" At Harry's look of dawning comprehension, Snape's scowl increased. "I didn't think so. That will be another nights detent…"

He was interrupted by the Headmaster. "Pardon me, Severus, but several things did happen last night which took precedence over the egg issue. Mr. Potter will be excused on that matter. I believe he has a Care of Magical Creature's class this afternoon. Would you be willing, Mr. Potter, to speak to the creature at that time?"

"Of course, Headmaster. I'll be glad to." As much as Harry didn't usually mind detentions with Hagrid, he didn't think he was ready for another so soon.

Professor Snape looked angry that Harry was getting away with getting him bitten when the snake creature should have been more willing to give up its eggs. He stomped angrily back across the Hall.

* * *

The trio finished their lunch and made their way outside to Care of Magical Creatures. They were pretty much finished with the Runespoor and were moving on to another creature, a glumbumble, which was a furry insect whose sting caused melancholy. Hagrid was getting anxious because he would soon be getting an Erumpent, a large African mammal that looked similar to a Rhinoceros. Hagrid was excited because the horn can pierce almost anything and contained an exploding fluid, therefore it is quite a dangerous animal. The Runespoor would be shipped back to Africa in a week to make room for the Erumpent. Harry thought he'd be a little sad to see them go.

At the close of the class, Harry started to collect his books and turned to head back to the castle. Hermione sent him a glare and jerked her head towards the paddock. Harry couldn't believe he almost forgot again. He gave a nod of thanks to Hermione and made his way over to the paddock. There would have been no way to avoid another detention if he had forgotten to talk to the creature again.

Harry climbed into the paddock and the Runespoor quickly slithered over to him. He asked the animal if it would be okay if their eggs were used by the wizards. Two quickly agreed. Sapna was reluctant. Harry found she was hopeful of a male Runespoor coming by. The other two scoffed at her saying there would be no male in this cold climate, but Harry said he would make sure she was left alone.

The other two showed Harry where they had been hiding their eggs. Harry summoned a basket which had a small blanket in it and collected the soft shelled eggs. He was surprised by them. Their shells felt like parchment and their color was pure silver. There were about twenty eggs in all hidden under decomposing brush. The eggs were quite warm. Harry put a little warming charm on the basket and covered them with part of the blanket.

Harry saw that Hagrid wasn't at home as he left the paddock. He supposed he shouldn't just leave the eggs sitting there. Hagrid had told his class that they were considered very valuable. So he brought the basket into the castle with him.

Students were beginning to gather in the Great Hall for supper. Harry took a quick peek and while he didn't see Hagrid, he did see Snape. He would much rather hand off the eggs to Hagrid and let him give them to the Potions Master, but Hagrid wasn't here and he didn't want to carry them around all night. He walked up to the Head Table where Snape was sitting and set the basket near the professor.

The professor looked at the old and dirty basket and sent a glare at Harry. "Just what am I supposed to do with this _thing_ while I'm eating, Potter?" he asked with disgust plain in his voice at the sight of the basket.

"I talked with the Runespoor. You can take eggs from the two outside heads, but not the middle one. The two outside ones showed me where they were keeping their eggs. I collected them, but didn't think I should just leave them lying around so here they are."

The Potions Professor looked at Harry with scorn when Harry said that not all the heads were willing to give up their eggs. His eyes got a flicker of curiosity when Harry mentioned collecting eggs. He looked extremely reluctant to actually touch the basket or remove the blanket, though. He looked like he thought he would be contaminated by touching such a common, dirty thing. The curiosity won out, though, and eventually, with two fingertips he flipped back a corner of the blanket covering the eggs. He leaned over the basket and started counting the eggs.

When Snape lifted his greasy head back up, Harry could see a light of greed in his eyes. With anyone else, Harry would think the greed was stemming from what they could get galleon-wise on the black market for the eggs, but with Professor Snape, Harry was sure it was just a possessiveness that he had such precious potion ingredients. He would never willingly give them up.

Snape got up from the table and lifted the basket, protectively cradling it with his free arm. "Well, color me surprised. You didn't totally mess things up. For once." With his parting shot, he turned and swept out of the Hall carrying his precious cargo, no longer noticing the dirty basket smudging his robes.

* * *

The rest of the week went by quickly. In his potions tutoring, Audra kept trying to find out how he knew her uncle and why Mundungus had been wearing a dress. Harry kept trying to sidestep how he met him and told her that he believed he was wearing a dress as a disguise. Harry had heard that some people in town had long memories and didn't allow him in their establishments.

Harry stopped by Hagrid's to ask what ever happened with Firenze going to the council meeting. Hagrid told him that Firenze was now allowed back into the forest as well. There may even be one or two others that might be willing to help Dumbledore.

Quidditch practice stepped up as the Gryffindors had their first game against Ravenclaw on Saturday. They also had another DA meeting. An additional five students joined, mostly fifth years. They seemed to feel a need for some constructive lessons and practice in their OWL year. Hannah kept close to Harry's side as protection against Cho. Harry was amused to see that Ernie kept even closer to Hannah's side. Ron kept his word, too, and stayed with Harry to help clean up. He couldn't stop the occasional snicker, however, which caused Harry to glare at him.

Harry was still getting flashes of Voldemort's emotions and occasional twinges in his scar, especially after his Occlumency lessons with Professor Dumbledore. He was glad the Headmaster seemed content to let Harry build his defenses slowly instead of smashing them down each time like Snape had. Professor Dumbledore was slowly using more strength in his attacks as Harry was getting better at pushing him out. Harry could not stop his Professor from entering his mind yet, but Dumbledore still seemed happy with the progress he was making.

* * *

The Saturday Quidditch game started chilly with clear skies except for the west. There was a build up of clouds growing on the horizon. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw players took their positions. The crowd waited with anticipation as Madam Hooch released the Quaffle and the game began.

Harry started his circuit of the pitch, flying high and looking down for that glint of gold. Harry listened to the commentary. Roger Davies grabbed the Quaffle first and started a drive towards the Gryffindor goal. Jack and Andrew tried to direct bludgers at him, but were deflected by the Ravenclaw beaters. Roger feinted to the right hoop and unfortunately, Ron fell for it and Roger made a goal in the center hoop. Ravenclaw was up 10 to zero. Katie started a return drive and passed to Ginny. Ginny took a shot but was unable to get the Quaffle past the Ravenclaw Keeper. Bradley from Ravenclaw rebounded but it was stolen away by Gryffindor's new chaser, Natalie MacDonald. She was able to pass to Katie and this time Gryffindor scored. On the game went.

Harry didn't know what was wrong with Cho. She normally marked him closely during games, but this was ridiculous. He wasn't even sure if she looked even once for the snitch. This was getting highly annoying. About thirty minutes into the game the build up of clouds to the west had drifted over to them and the skies turned gloomy. The wind started to get stronger and rain began to fall. Gryffindor was holding their own, but the Ravenclaw chasers were nothing to sneeze at. They stayed consistently a little ahead of Gryffindor on points. Ginny had the Quaffle and was making her way back up the field when a bludger sent from a Ravenclaw beater made her swerve at the last minute. Unfortunately, she didn't swerve fast enough and the bludger glanced a blow on her shoulder.

Harry winced in sympathy and forced his attention back to searching the pitch for a glimpse of gold. His hair was dripping into his eyes and he shook his head to try to flick it to the side. He had, fortunately, performed an impervious charm on his glasses so his vision wasn't overly hampered by the rain.

Cho was still following like a flea on a dog. Harry tried a dive to shake Cho off. She followed the dive, but was back behind Harry within moments. She grinned at him as if saying 'nice try, but not going to work for long.'

Finally Harry saw it. The snitch was coasting along about 40 feet above the ground darting behind two Chasers making their way to the Ravenclaw goals. Harry dived back down, aiming for the snitch. Cho followed behind. Harry increased his speed. If he could just cut his angle a bit to the left he should be able to cut across its path, but avoid the Chasers. Harry pushed his speed and made his cut at the last possible moment. He held out his hand and closed his fist around the small golden ball.

Harry held his hand up in triumph and heard the whistle blow when he heard a sickening thud behind him. He twisted around on his Firebolt to see Cho and Ginny had collided. Cho had only been watching Harry and not been paying attention to where the Chasers were and ran straight into Ginny.

Cho had been knocked sideways on her broom and Harry could see her grip loosening. Ginny reached over and grabbed Cho's robes while maintaining a firm grip on her own broom. As Cho's hand slipped off her broom, Harry saw her whole weight drag down on Ginny's arm. Ginny gave a yelp of pain. Harry then heard Ron's shout of panic. Bearing down on Ginny was one of the bludgers that had yet to be corralled at the end of the game. With mounting horror he saw it slam into Ginny's side. The force wrenched her from her broom. Harry watched in shock as Ginny and Cho started falling 40 feet to the ground.

In a flash, Harry was after them. He dove straight down at an incredible speed. He got slightly below them then managed to maneuver the broom to ram into the two girls at a slightly upwards angle. Both frightened girls immediately latched onto him. The sudden weight added to his broom made his broom lose control momentarily and they all plummeted down.

Harry had managed to catch the girls at 10 feet before he lost control of the broom. He never managed to regain control before all three hit the muddy ground with a thud. Harry ended up on his back with the two girls tangled somehow over him. Harry couldn't catch his breath. Time seemed to stand still for a moment and Harry couldn't hear anything. Then all of a sudden the noise rushed back and faces were swarming over them.

The two girls were both shaking and sobbing with shock. Ron was there and tried to help Ginny up, but she just rolled over and curled into a ball, holding her ribs. Someone helped Cho to her feet and Harry rolled over and propped up on one elbow to look toward Ginny.

"Ginny? You all right?" Harry put a hand lightly on her back. He could see Ginny take a few more shallow, painful breaths before she started to calm.

Professor McGonagall was suddenly there and took control. She knelt in the mud near Ginny and ran a hand over her ribs. "I believe you have a broken rib, Miss Weasley. You'll also need to get that shoulder looked at." She glanced over at Harry and Cho. "You two also should head to the Hospital Wing and get looked over."

Ron tried again to gently help Ginny up. This time she made it to her feet. Hermione helped Harry to his feet. Harry looked over and saw Michael Corner helping Cho towards the castle. She seemed to be arguing with him and gesturing back to Harry. Michael looked over to Harry and Harry wearily shook his head. Something had to be done about Cho. He didn't know what her problem was but they were going to have to clear the air once and for all.

Madam Pomfrey took Ginny to the far end of the infirmary and set up curtains around a bed there. She then shooed Ron, Hermione and Michael out. Cho and Harry took a seat on an empty bed to wait.

Cho grabbed Harry's arm and tried to give him a hug. Harry tried to hold her off. Harry started the conversation in a low voice. "Cho, what is going on with you? You hardly paid attention in the game to anything except me. That went way beyond marking the opponent. Then your inattention made you crash into Ginny! What is going on with you? You've got to stop this!"

"Harry! You've saved me again! That proves that you love me, not Hannah!" Cho was gazing with a fervor in her eyes that reminded Harry a bit of Dobby, but in a scarier way. He idly wondered what she meant by saving her 'again'.

"Cho, listen to yourself! That doesn't even make sense! Ginny was trying to save you, too. Does that mean she's in love with you? No. It means she didn't want to see you hurt or killed." Harry was trying to understand what reasoning Cho had for believing Harry was in love with her still, but he just wasn't getting it.

"Is it Ginny? Is she in our way?" Even covered in mud, the Asian girl was quite pretty, but she just didn't do anything for Harry anymore.

"No. It's not Ginny. I don't want to hurt you Cho, but there just is no 'us'. We've only had one date and that didn't work out. I hope we can be friends, but I can't see us being any more than that." Cho's eyes were clouding over and Harry was expecting the tears to start as usual. Instead her eyes suddenly hardened.

"So it _is_ Hannah." Cho narrowed her eyes. "She doesn't love you like I can. I happen to know she's two-timing you. I've had reports of her meeting with Ernie MacMillan!"

"Cho, stop it! It's not about anyone other than you and me. I don't feel that way about you. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is!"

Cho's eyes now filled with tears. "But you have to! If we had stayed together last year, things would have been different!" Harry was watching Cho as she seemed to have reached some limit and went over it. She started clinging desperately to Harry. Harry had his hands on her elbows holding her apart from him. Her voice started rising in pitch. "You saved me! You have to love me! You saved me, my mother, my brother…Why didn't you save my father, Harry?" Harry stared at Cho in shock. She started muttering again. "If we had stayed together, we all could have been saved." She looked up again and then turned angry and started hitting Harry in the chest with her balled up fists. "Why didn't you save my father, Harry? Why did you let him go off to get help?" She was totally hysterical now.

Harry was staring at Cho in shock. She wasn't causing much damage with her hits with her arms trapped between them. "Cho?" He looked up and saw Madam Pomfrey and Ginny watching them from across the infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey went to a cabinet and took out a potion. Harry recognized it as a calming draught. Cho had finally collapsed in tears against Harry. Madam Pomfrey gently put a hand on her shoulder and steered her to a bed. She pressed the vial to Cho's lips and Cho drank it down. Her sobs subsided into sniffs and Harry could hear low murmuring between her and Madam Pomfrey. The nurse started putting up curtains around her bed.

Ginny walked over to Harry. She was wearing a hospital robe and had been cleaned up. Through the neckline of the robe, Harry could see a hint of a bandage he assumed was wrapped around her shoulder. She placed a hand on his arm. Harry looked up at her with shocked eyes. "I wasn't there. I couldn't save her father."

"I know. I know, Harry. Something's wrong with her. They'll help her now." Ginny started rubbing circles on Harry's back, trying to give him some comfort.

Madam Pomfrey came out from behind the curtains. She gave a sympathetic look to Harry. "I gave her some Dreamless Sleep Potion. She should sleep through the night. I'll notify Professor Flitwick of what happened here and he'll talk to her in the morning. She doesn't seem to have any physical injuries and should be fine for tonight. Now let's take a look at you. Miss Weasley, you should get back to your bed."

Ginny gave Harry one last comforting pat on the back and made her way back across the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey checked Harry over. He was fine. He only had the wind knocked out of him.

Harry was allowed to leave the infirmary and report what happened to Ron, Hermione and Michael. He still felt shocked by what happened to Cho and it was difficult explaining her breakdown to Michael. Michael closed his eyes. "I wondered if there was something wrong, but how can you tell if the change is a normal part of grieving or if something else is wrong? I just knew something was off."

* * *

The next morning, Harry took his time making his way to the Hospital Wing. He wasn't anxious to see Cho again real soon, but he did want to see how Ginny was. He expected she would be released today. Madam Pomfrey had only kept her for observation overnight. She had been able to heal her rib in a trice.

As Harry walked into the Hospital Wing, he saw a worried Asian woman near the bed Cho was in. A smaller boy was sitting across from her, kicking his feet on the chair legs. Cho was still sleeping. The woman looked up. It was obvious she had been crying. When she saw Harry her eyes flicked up to his scar and recognition flashed in her eyes. He paused as she stood and approached him. She gave a respectful bow. "Mr. Potter?"

Harry sort of jerked forward in an uncomfortable head duck/bow back to Mrs. Chang. "Mrs. Chang. How is Cho this morning?"

"She woke briefly earlier. Her Head of House called me and made arrangements for us to take her to St. Mungo's for an evaluation." She paused then continued in a more hesitant voice. "I want to apologize for any trouble she has caused you this year. I also want to thank you for teaching her how to defend us. I was very surprised she knew what to do and was extremely proud of her. After it was over, she told how you had taught her and others ways to defend themselves. She was very close to her father…I should have known something was wrong when she would speak more of you than of her father."

Harry ducked his head. "I hope she will be alright."

Mrs. Chang smiled. "Thank you. I know she will be…eventually." Harry gave a nod and continued on to the end of the infirmary with a sigh of relief. He was glad that was over. He hoped he could avoid them on the way out. He knew that was cowardly, but he really felt uncomfortable in those situations.

Ron and Hermione were sitting by Ginny's bed. She was sitting up. She gave a smile when she saw Harry. "Hi, Harry."

"How are you, Ginny? Able to leave soon?" Ginny had the bandage off her arm.

"I'll have a final check any time now and should be able to leave after that."

The four sat with comfortable conversations for the first time since the summer. Harry wasn't sure what was different, but Ginny was much more relaxed.

"Hey, mate, thanks for breaking Ginny's fall. Madam Pomfrey said if she'd landed on the ground with her broken rib, it might have punctured a lung." Ron started to grin. "Of course, it's not like it's the first time you've done that, is it? Getting to be a habit finding you with my sister laying on top of you."

Harry blushed remembering earlier in the summer when Ron had been looking for Ginny when they were in the library and Ginny fell. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ginny swatted her brother on the back of the head. "Ron, get a life!"

Madam Pomfrey made her way to where they were sitting. "You lot will have to leave while I check Miss Weasley over. Mr. Potter, I have been asked to give you a message that you are needed at Hagrid's Hut."

Harry excused himself from his friends, stopped at the tower to grab a cloak and made his way to the half-giants home. He knocked on the door and heard Fang start barking madly. Hagrid opened the door and ushered Harry inside. Hagrid looked quite windblown and upset.

"What's that matter, Hagrid?" Harry wasn't used to seeing Hagrid like this. He wasn't sure if he was angry or worried or something in between.

"I'm glad yeh came so fas', Harry. I'm afraid I've got some bad news. Sommat's tampered with the heating charm on the paddock. I on'y found out this mornin'. Must've happened some time yesterday is all I can figure. Maybe durin' the Quidditch match when ever'ones focus was turned away."

"How is the Runespoor?" Harry was concerned on how the cold-blooded creature survived the night.

"Dunno. Can't find 'em and Fang refuses ter go near the paddock lately. Tha's why I wanted you ter come. I thought maybe you migh' know where they would hide." Hagrid looked hopefully up at Harry.

Harry scratched his head. "I know two spots where they kept eggs warm. We can check those."

Harry and Hagrid went to the paddock. Off in the distance Harry saw Malfoy watching them with a satisfied smirk on his face. Apparently Hagrid saw him, too and Harry could feel his large friend tensing up. He started to mutter. "If'n I had one speck of evidence…"

Harry led the way to where the first nest of eggs had been found. It was empty. They made their way to the second nest and that one was empty as well. Harry started to call for them, listening hard for some return sound. After about twenty minutes he finally heard a faint hiss. "Thisss way…" Harry finally found them about five meters from the edge of the south end of the paddock. He quickly dug down through the decaying brush to uncover the Runespoor. The reptile didn't look good. It was curled around a third nest which still had eggs. Hagrid quickly lifted the creature and Harry summoned another basket. He dug out the eggs and placed a warming charm on the basket as he had the one before. They took the creature and the eggs to Hagrid's Hut.

Hagrid laid the Runespoor near the fire. Fang came near to investigate but the heads gave a half-hearted hiss to warn him away and he scampered off to hide under Hagrid's bed.

Harry sat near the fire. He put the basket of eggs next to him. "Sssapna, I put your eggsss in the basket because I was afraid they would be damaged from the cold. They are sssafe here for you. No one will disturb them."

The Runespoor started to move sluggishly towards Harry. Sapna peered into the basket and seemed satisfied. The snake creature twined its body around Harry as it had before. "You are warm. We will ssstay here."

Hagrid came over with a smoking mixture for the Runespoor to drink. Harry helped him get them to drink and soon they were looking much better than before.

"I want ter thank yeh, Harry, fer helpin' to find her. She'll be leavin' tomorrow. I'll keep her nice an' warm tonight and she'll be right as rain an' ready ter go." Hagrid leaned over to start making a nest of blankets near the fire. Harry carried them over to it and started to unwrap her coils.

"What'sss the matter, massster? Where are you going?"

"I need to go back to the cassstle. Hagrid will keep you warm until tomorrow when you will be heading back to your home."

"We want to ssstay with you."

"You can't. I need to sstay here and I can't take proper care of you. It'sss not safe for you to live here all the time. It getsss too cold. It will be better for you at your home. I'll tell Hagrid to make sure your eggsss go with you. You are more likely to find a male Runespoor at your dessstination."

The Runespoor just lay there with its three heads slowly blinking at Harry. Sapna finally leaned forward. "You may keep my eggsss."

Harry smiled at her. "I thank you. You are very generousss." He looked closely at Sapna and Sorena. "Remember, if Shamira starts criticizing you to the point it really bothersss you, move around for a change of scenery. Don't attack her. That's just how she vents her frustrations." Then he turned to Shamira. "Shamira, it really would work better if instead of calling them names, you just tell them you want to move around more."

The snakes bowed their heads. "We will try."

A whimper came from underneath the bed. Harry grinned and shook his head. Such an intimidating dog was such a coward. But everything should be fine for the night. He said a final goodbye and returned to the castle.

* * *

Time started passing normally again. Ginny spent some time again with Harry and his friends instead of seeming to avoid them. Harry knew he was ready for trying the animagus transformation, but wasn't sure about his friends. He had finally finished reading his father's journal and he knew he had to share one passage about the transformation with them.

The four were gathered in the trunk one evening and Harry pulled out the journal.

"Hermione, I know you're reading the books on the transformation. Have you reached the section on the actual transformation yet?"

"I've read that the first transformation takes considerable concentration and causes quite some discomfort, similar to that of the werewolf transformation." She recited the information almost as if she was reading it in her mind.

"Yeah, well, the 'quite some discomfort' is the part I want to warn you about. My dad wrote about it in his journal. I don't know if you will want to change your mind about this." Harry took the journal and flipped to the page he had marked. He began to read.

_I finally transformed! Two days ago we finally decided to take the plunge. We were going to do it all at once, but just in case, we thought we would have just one of us go first. I went first. Sirius helped me get into a trance and the first thing I was able to see a set of antlers. Eventually the whole stag came into focus and started walking around. He was beautiful! Even in the trance I was so happy it was a large enough animal to help control Remus and he was so impressive. Sirius brought me out of the trance and I told him and Peter what I had seen. We then moved to the actual transformation. I wasn't worried. I knew that it would hurt. It would feel like what Remus goes through twice each month. Each time he transforms from human to wolf and wolf to human._

_I never had a clue what he went through. The pain is unbelievable! It felt like every single bone was breaking and then melting into a new shape. It took me two days in the infirmary to recover! We had to make up a story for Madam Pomfrey. I cannot imagine why Remus isn't prematurely old and gray. The stress his body must go through…. What an awful thing to have to live with. I'm glad I went through it for Remus. It gives me an even greater understanding of what he lives with, but I can see the hesitation in Sirius and Peter's eyes. Peter's especially. If it wasn't for Remus, I don't think we ever would have done this…_

Harry closed the journal. He saw horror in the eyes of his friends. He turned to Hermione. "Do you remember seeing Professor Lupin change into a werewolf?"

"I do…I just thought maybe it was more painful than usual that one time for some reason. I didn't realize he _always_ feels that much…" There were some tears in her eyes.

"I just want you to be aware of everything about it. You will be feeling that pain the first time, too. Both when you initially change and when you change back. If you don't want to continue, you don't have to. My dad wouldn't have done it if it hadn't been for Remus."

Ron spoke up. "What about you? What are you going to do?"

Harry looked down at the journal in his hands. "I'm going to go ahead. I'd like it if you could help me with the trance and stuff, but you don't have to do it yourselves. I feel I have pretty valid reasons to continue, too. Not friendship, but survival. I don't know what kind of animal I would be, but anything might help in a pinch. Even a slug."

Ron spoke again. "Well, I'm going to be right beside you. I'm going to go through with it. But did you have to mention slugs?" Ron still turned a bit green when he remembered the 'Eat Slugs!' incident back in second year.

Hermione agreed. "We'll just have to schedule it for a weekend. That way we won't miss any classes."

It didn't surprise Harry too much that his best friends were willing to go through the pain of the transformation with him, but then Ginny spoke up. "All the bones breaking and then melting, huh? At least it only happens the first time. It shouldn't kill me. After all, Professor Lupin is still alive. I can survive a few days of pain. I'm in, too."

Ron looked seriously at Ginny. "You don't have to, Gin."

Ginny's look turned belligerent. "You don't have to protect me from some pain, Ronald. I've had enough things happen in my life emotionally that a little bit of physical pain won't amount to much more. I want to do this. I want to do this for myself. You never know when it could come in handy. I'll bet Sirius never thought it would help him escape from the Ministry or protect him in Azkaban."

Harry smiled and the tension eased. "I hope we never have to hide out from the Ministry using our animagus forms. I just wanted you to know what we're getting into. How is everyone doing with their spells?"

It ended up that only Harry was accomplished in performing the animating spell. Ginny was close, but Ron and Hermione, while getting closer were still struggling. "Why don't we see if we can do this at Christmas Break? That gives us a bit under three months. Then we won't have to miss any school and probably will be able to keep out of sight better while we recover."

It was agreed and they all went back to practicing or studying.

* * *

Time started passing quickly and Harry was getting distracted. He felt he had a lot to think about. He thought about his vault, the house elves in his care, Sirius, Cho and what she had said about her mother already having financial problems since her father was kissed, Occlumency, and, as always, Voldemort. October was passing swiftly and Halloween was coming up soon. Harry was getting some foreign feelings of anticipation that he didn't like.

Harry made his way down for another potions tutoring session with Audra. He still used the Marauders Map and it was a good thing. Harry was a bit early for the tutoring. He looked at the map before entering the room. Blaise had already been there but he found Audra coming down the hall. What he was not pleased to see was Malfoy's name skulking along behind her. Harry entered the room and quietly told Blaise that Malfoy was following Audra. He still had the map in his hand and quickly showed Blaise. Blaise raised his eyebrows then motioned for Harry to go back into the tunnel.

Harry did as suggested. He felt a slight twinge about showing Blaise the map, but it wasn't like it was a total secret anymore. He had been using it both last year and this to release students from the DA. Even if they hadn't seen it up close, they still probably suspected what it was. Even some teachers knew. Snape and Dumbledore had seen the map before. Well, Harry wasn't sure Dumbledore had actually seen the map before he snuck it back out of the fake Moody's office at the end of Fourth year, but he definitely knew about it. He was sure they both suspected Harry had gotten it back somehow. Blaise was just the first Slytherin student to see it.

Harry watched the dots on the map. He couldn't hear anything from in here, so watching was his only choice. Blaise was pacing back and forth. Audra was at the potions room door now. Malfoy was just around the corner from her. Suddenly Blaise's dot moved rapidly towards Audra's. Audra must have been dragged into the room and their dots were suddenly extremely close. Malfoy moved up to the doorway then quickly left.

Harry entered the room. Blaise and Audra were leaning heavily against a desk kissing passionately. Harry cleared his throat. "He's gone."

As they pulled apart Audra looked dazed. "Dare I ask…?"

Blaise pulled her back up. "Red Herring. Malfoy was following you. He must have noticed you went missing a time or two and decided to find out what you were up to. Now he thinks he knows." He turned to Harry. "Where is he now?"

Harry pulled out the map and searched the dungeons. "Looks like he went back to the common room. He's found Crabbe and Goyle. Could he cause you trouble with this?"

Audra's eyes were wide. She stared unbelieving at the Map. Her voice was hushed when she spoke. "This is amazing! How did you get this? Did you make this?"

"Actually it was made by my father and his friends. I use it to get to these meetings without getting caught." Belatedly Harry remembered that Audra was Head Girl and had the power to take the map away from him.

Audra must have noticed his sudden tension because she looked at him closely. "Could you loan it to me?"

"Er…no. Only Ron, Hermione and I in this school know how to work it and, no offense, but it's not something I would ever loan out."

"Good. Keep it that way." Harry must have looked confused because she added, "I was testing you. You use it so naturally you must have had it for some time. No awful pranks have been done that aren't accounted for so you must not be using it for that. Just make sure it stays that way. Besides, it just saved my bacon."

Blaise asked curiously, "What do you mean you're the only ones in this school who know how to work it? What's to work? You just look at it."

Harry gave a half-smile. He held his wand out and silently thought 'Mischief Managed'. The map went blank. Audra and Blaise gave a gasp. "There's a trick to it."

Audra took that as a challenge. She pushed her sleeves back and held out her wand over the old parchment. "Revealo." Nothing happened.

"You're not going to make it show anything. If Snape couldn't, you won't be able to."

Audra's eyes got wide. "Professor Snape saw this? When?"

"In my third year. Unfortunately he got a little snarky with it and it started insulting him." Harry gave a laugh. "It's funny now, but I was horrified then. I hadn't known that the map makers were my father and his friends and that they and Snape absolutely hated each other. It's quite an interesting parchment."

"Is that why he always picked on you in class? We always thought it was just because you're you. You know, 'Famous Harry Potter'," Blaise wondered.

"Partly. I look just like my dad. But I'm sure he's got other issues, too." Harry took a breath, pocketed the map and said, "Well, enough on that. Shall we get started?"

They were working on a burn-healing paste. He tried to focus his attention on Audra's instructions. He had to wait two minutes to add sliced caterpillars to the powdered Chinese Fireball dragon egg when his mind started to wander again.

Harry thought about Ron in the Finance class. Ron was having top marks. Harry thought he was probably the top student in class. Ron was enjoying the previously unknown feeling. He had taken to the challenge of only having a small amount in his 'vault' admirably. It felt a little odd to Harry that Ron would suggest going to the library as much as Hermione would when it came to homework for Griphook's class. Each student had to keep enough money in their vault to adequately house their 'family'. They could decide to do different things with their galleons; invest it or start a business. There were random bits of favorable and unfavorable events that would happen. Ron had carefully investigated the different options they had to invest in and started with a small investment that slowly grew. Then when he deemed he had a comfortable safety net he started his own business. Again he carefully investigated many different aspects of what the business would do and who it would be aimed at. Even when he drew an 'all inventory destroyed in fire' he was able to rebuild his business with his safety net. Then rebuilt his safety net before putting more money into the business. Griphook was very impressed.

Thinking of Griphook made him think of his vault. He wasn't doing too well in the finance class, but in real life he had more money than he knew what to do with. He thought about the galleons he inherited from Sirius. Here he was with his finances and there was Cho's mother who was now struggling with medical bills for her daughter as well as the regular bills, just because Voldemort…

"Potter!" Audra screamed at him. Harry jerked back to awareness. He looked at the timer. More than two minutes had passed. Much more…That was bad. He looked at the cauldron. It was about to explode.

"Watch out!" Audra ran to the far side of the room. Harry was caught between the worktable and the wall. He had nowhere to run. He ducked down. The potions' explosion was a small one, but large enough to cover Harry pretty good. The gloop could mostly be scraped off, but fumes were what made it bad. _Scourgify_ did not get rid of the stink.

"Urgh! I smell like bad dragon breath!" Harry's eyes were watering.

"How would you know what a dragon's breath smells….Oh, yeah. Never mind."

Harry smirked. They didn't even know about Norbert.

Audra wrinkled her nose. "I think we'll do this again another time. I can't stand this." She pointed her wand at Harry. "_Chanel Allure_!"

Harry jumped in surprise at the mist coming his way. It hit him and he stood there in shock.

Audra took a deep breath. "Yes. That's much better!"

Harry took a sniff. "I smell like a girl!" Harry was highly offended.

Blaise just laughed at him. He turned to Audra. "It smells better on you, honey."

"I'm never going to live this down!" Harry started muttering as he cleaned up the area around the cauldron and then the cauldron itself. He rinsed off as much as he could in a sink in the potions room, but the perfume still lingered. He thought he'd rather smell like the dragon breath.

Finally he was ready to go back to his dorm. Blaise and Audra left, still quietly laughing at Harry. Harry didn't really mind them laughing at him. He'd laugh himself if he didn't still have to get past all of Gryffindors to get to the showers. Come to think of it, maybe he take a bath in the trunk. There were more manly scents in there he could use if the perfume proved stubborn to remove.

Harry went into the tunnel and lit it with a wandless _lumos_ spell. He rummaged through his bag for his invisibility cloak. Hopefully he could get through the common room without attracting notice. Or at least no one would know it was him.

Harry made his way through the corridors keeping a fair distance between him and other students. He was able to get into the common room unnoticed and up to his dorm. With a feeling of relief he went down into the trunk.

As he went he started to remove the smelly clothing. He took off his robe and his shirt. He wadded them up and threw them onto the counter to take care of later. Maybe he'd call Winky to try to clean them for him. That way he wouldn't have to carry them back into the dorm near all his dorm mates.

Harry was still thinking about this as he made his way to the loo. He was just removing his belt when he heard a squeak. He spun around to find the tub already in use. He froze. "Ginny!"

Luckily the tub was full of bubbles and all he could see was her neck and head. Her hair was piled on top of her head and her eyes were wide. Suddenly her nose twitched.

"Who?" she demanded.

"What?" Harry had no idea what she was talking about. Here he was standing in only in his trousers and he was trying not to think about what she _wasn't_ wearing and she was asking strange questions. He knew his brain might not be working his greatest at the moment, but even so, he didn't think that question made sense.

"Who? I know it's not Cho and it can't be Hannah. She's openly dating Ernie MacMillan now. And I know for a fact that Professor Dumbledore does not where Chanel perfume! So _who_? Who is it that you keep meeting?"

"Audra Fletcher."

"The Head Girl? You're dating the Head Girl? A Slytherin?" Harry didn't think she realized, but she leaned forward in that little rant and now her shoulders were rising out of the bubbles.

Harry knew he was staring and he had to snap out of it. He needed to wrenched his gaze from the slight wave movement her leaning forward caused. Causing the water to dip down…then rise back up…then dip back down again…a few bubbles were popping…. He shook his head. He hadn't seen anything yet that wouldn't be shown in a swimsuit, but he'd better get out of here before he did. Her question slowly filtered into his brain. He started backing towards the door. "I…I'm not dating her. I…I'll tell you about it when you're through. I'll just go now…." Harry gave up and ran for the door. He heard Ginny give another little squeak and then heard a splash as she dove back low in the water.

Harry started pacing back and forth out in the main area of the trunk. He had put his shirt back on but didn't button it. He had thought about putting a bathrobe on, but thought that might be a little too intimate a look for their conversation so on the smelly shirt went. He could hear some water movement and splashes from the loo and tried not to think of what was happening in there.

After a short while Ginny came out. She had put on a blue jumper. Her hair was still wet, even though it looked like she had made an effort to comb it. Her cheeks had a rosy glow on them. Harry didn't know if it was because of warm water or because she was embarrassed.

"Sorry about walking in on you. I never even thought you might be there, even though I should have."

She blushed a deeper shade. "No problem, Harry. I guess being brothers they didn't bother with locks on the door and I didn't bother with a locking charm. Guess I will from now on." She trailed off. She seemed to have trouble focusing in any one spot. She would glance at Harry's face, then her eyes would travel down to his open shirt then flick away as if she silently yelled at herself and then start the circuit over again.

Finally she swallowed hard and sat in a chair. "So. You said you aren't dating Audra Fletcher?"

Harry was glad for the change in subject. He sat is the second chair. "No. Professor McGonagall set it up for her to give me potions tutoring. I blew up a cauldron tonight and she decided the smell was too bad and sprayed me with whatever this smell is. I thought I could try to wash it off down here instead of by any of the guys."

Ginny gave a half laugh. "I can see that you would prefer washing down here. I must say, she put it on a bit heavy."

"The potion that blew up landed on me and smelled pretty bad."

Ginny started to ask nonchalantly, "So you meet with her often?"

"Every week. I have to say I prefer it to Snape's class. They do seem to like to laugh at me, though. I don't really mind that much. I think I'm just as much a mystery to them as they are to me."

Ginny frowned a bit at the beginning of the sentence, then her frown changed to confusion. "They?"

"Yeah, Audra and Blaise." At Ginny's raised eyebrows, Harry continued, "Blaise Zabini is always there, too. He's dating Audra. We had decided to keep the tutoring sessions quiet because it would cause trouble with the other Slytherins, but Audra didn't want to keep it from Blaise. She was afraid it would look bad if he found out later and didn't want to put that strain on their relationship. They seem very comfortable with each other. Very close."

Ginny smiled a very big smile. Harry's heart jumped. "That's nice!"

"Yeah. I've been surprised that some Slytherins are just like us. Just in a different house is all. Probably should have seemed pretty obvious, but there you go. They're not bad at all, Blaise and Audra. I think at first Blaise was suspicious of me being alone with Audra, but now he and I practice different spells when potions take a while to brew. It's actually kind of fun." The conversation lagged for a moment. Ginny seemed content to sit quietly. She was smiling to herself. "So how have things been with Dean? I haven't seen you by him and his friends lately."

Ginny looked up surprised. "Things are fine. There's nothing between him and me, though. He's interested in Parvati. It's fun to flirt, though. That's all they do in that group."

"I don't think I'd know how."

Ginny focused on him. She got a wide grin on her face. "Oh, it's easy. Just like learning a new language. Like igpay atinlay." Her look turned coy. "Maybe I'll have to help you with it sometime."

Harry held his hands up. "I think you'd run rings around me."

"We'll see. Could be fun." She stood up and Harry stood too. She came near and took each side of his open shirt in each hand. Harry started to find it hard to breathe. "Well, I'll leave you alone now so you can take this back off and start your soak in the tub."

She turned and started to walk away. Harry just stared after her. She turned back when she reached the ladder and gave him a wink. Then she climbed out. Harry collapsed in a chair. If she was going to start flirting with him, he was going to be in trouble.

* * *

Ginny was as good as her word. She started prompting him for extra words at their greetings.

Harry was sitting at breakfast with Ron and Hermione when Ginny came walking past with some other fifth year girls. She paused to say good morning to them.

"Good morning, Ginny."

She looked at him with amusement in her eyes. "And…?"

"You're looking lovely, as always." Harry replied. He felt a little foolish as the other girls started giggling, but Ginny smiled at him approvingly.

"Thank you, Harry. You're getting better at this." She moved off down the table as Harry watched her. Finally he turned back to his friends. Ron's mouth was open and Hermione looked like she was trying to hide her laughter.

Harry blushed at returned his gaze to his food.

* * *

Harry had finally made some decisions about a couple of things that had been on his mind. Now he had to find out if what he wanted to happen was even possible.

The last week of October finally arrived and with it the last day of his finance class. This was his last chance so Harry got his courage up and approached his Professor. "Sir, I was wondering if you could spare some time to talk."

Griphook looked at him curiously. "All right, Mr. Potter. I have a few minutes now."

Harry bit his lip. "This might take longer than that. I was wondering if you could come back some night or weekend…or even next Monday at this time since I'll have a free period then."

Griphook's eyes were reserved, but he eventually nodded. "I'll meet you here next Monday, same time as this class had been."

Harry smiled in relief. "Thank you."

* * *

Harry's foreign feeling of anticipation was finally explained Friday morning. A picture of a schmoozing Cornelius Fudge was plastered across the front page and the headlines of the Daily Prophet proclaimed:

_Minister of Magic attacked by Death Eaters_

_The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, was attacked on Halloween night at his personal residence in Sherborn, London. The Dark Mark was found flying over his home at 1:00 a.m. Undersecretary Delores Umbridge was one of the first on the scene. 'This is a tragedy, but I shall strive to do my utmost to carry on his noble work.' Delores Jane Umbridge was second in command to Cornelius Fudge and so has become our Interim Minister of Magic. Cornelius Fudge is in the Long-Term Care Unit at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. It has been reported he had signs of multiple Cruciatus Curses and is under the care of Head Healer Blythefield. The prognosis for recovery is not good …_

"That toad is our Minister for Magic?" Ron could believe what he was reading over Hermione's shoulder. "We're really in for it now. She hates Harry and Dumbledore worse than Fudge. You-Know-Who might as well just do whatever he wants now!"

Hermione was shaking her head and handed over the front page for Harry to read and then gave another gasp. Harry could just see several photographs of people blinking up and scowling. "I think he already is, Ron. Listen to this!"

_Breakout at Azkaban!_

_Late last night Azkaban was broken open and several high security prisoners escaped. It is reported that this is the work of He Who Must Not Be Named. This is the second time prisoners have broken out enmass from Azkaban Prison. Among those missing are…_

She spread the article from page three out on the table and Harry could see photos of each Death Eater that had been at the Department of Mysteries who had been caught. "So he got them all back out. Why does that not surprise me?" He looked around at the other tables. Michelle Avery was listening to her friend who seemed to be gloating, but she looked to be feeling rather sick herself. Malfoy of course was being his usual arrogant self further down the table. He looked up to the Head Table and saw Professor Dumbledore talking with Professor Snape. Professor Snape rose suddenly from the table and quickly exited the Great Hall. The Headmaster looked extremely worried. The Headmaster looked up and locked eyes with Harry for just a moment.

Suddenly Harry's scar seemed to burst with pain. He pressed his hand against his forehead with all his might. This wasn't the snake uncoiling. This was extreme emotions and a lot of them. The pain was so intense he couldn't see straight. He was feeling hate, pleasure, frustration, annoyance and a gamut of others.

Ron and Hermione seemed to realize what was happening and started to drag Harry out of the Great Hall. Neville, Ginny and even Luna crowded around him, too, so Harry ended up being shielded from other student's prying eyes.

Harry wasn't really aware of what was happening around him anymore. He was told later that the group was met by the Headmaster. The Headmaster directed them to Firenze's classroom and had them lay Harry down on a mossy patch under a tree. Harry immediately curled into a fetal position.

_Harry was suddenly standing inside a large room. Voldemort was pacing back in forth, occasionally sending curses toward Bellatrix and Wormtail. There were about a dozen other ragged looking black robed figures in the room as well. Suddenly more black robed figures with white masks started to fill the room. It was the largest group Harry had seen yet. When Voldemort finally seemed to feel everyone was present, he started. His high-pitched voice rippled with anger. "Who attacked the Minister last night without my permission?"_

_None of the bowing figures made a move. Voldemort was not happy with that. He started to walk down among the bowed figures. A stopped at one figure and place a bony, scale-like finger on top of the Death Eaters head. "Tell me. Look me in the eyes and tell me if you attacked the Minister last night."_

_The Death Eater looked up and said, "No, Master. I would never do so without your permission."_

_He continued to stop at each Death Eater in the room and received similar replies. Finally he seemed content with their answers. "It seems that someone else is using my Mark and giving us credit for what they are doing. I don't like that. It was not time yet to remove the Minister. Things are to happen when I say they are to happen. Nutcombe, find out if our Interim Minister's wand was used for this deed. She now has his position and was early on the scene."_

_A bowing figure said, "Yes, Master."_

Harry was slowly pulled away from the scene. He opened his eyes and gasped, "It wasn't him."

* * *

The weekend proceeded a little quieter than usual. Once again, the castle seemed a little more nervous and unsure than before. In Harry's occlumency lesson, he was able to learn that Umbridge's wand had been tested and no dark curses had been recently used by it. The Headmaster was concerned that Harry had been pulled into a vision while he had been awake. That had never happened before. Harry hoped it was just the extreme and conflicting emotions being broadcast that made this happen. Regardless, he started working harder than ever to block the Headmaster from his thoughts. He was successful with spoken words, but when the Headmaster silently did the curse, it still took him a while to push him out.

Finally Monday came and Harry nervously made his way back to Griphook's classroom. He was carrying his portfolio with him. When he entered the room, Griphook was already there, sitting on his raised chair behind the desk. He had his long fingers drumming the surface and he had a scowl on his face. This didn't bode well for Harry. It didn't look like Griphook was in a good mood. Well, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Harry straightened his shoulders and knocked on the door.

"Come in, Mr. Potter." Griphook's tone was not very friendly either. "Shall I begin? I want you to know that I have already submitted the grades to your Headmaster and I will not be changing any of them. Not even yours. You did acceptable work in this class, but not any better than that, so that is what you earned."

He stopped and glared at Harry, daring him to say anything about it. Harry blinked. "Well, that's okay. That's what I hoped for. I certainly didn't expect better." He stopped and grinned. "But I bet Ron did good. He really seemed to understand this class."

Now Griphook blinked. "Yes. Mr. Weasley did very well. He received the top mark for the class." He looked a little confused. "You did not wish to see me about this class? What did you wish to see me about? I thought it would be about your grade."

Harry shrugged. "I would like good grades as much as anyone, but the main reason I wanted to take your class wasn't for the grade. I wanted to learn about what I have and what to do about it."

"And what have you decided to do, if I may ask?" Griphook was starting to look interested.

Harry started to get nervous again. He hauled out some of the bundles from his portfolio. "There are two main things. The first one is about my investments. I've learned in this class that this could be a good source of income if managed correctly. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor the desire to research what needs to get done to do a good job at it. I would like to hire someone I trust to manage it for me. I would, of course, expect reports on what activity is taking place."

Griphook had a thoughtful look on his face. "That is not a bad idea. Do you know who you would hire?"

"Well, I...er…I was wondering if _you_ would be interested." Griphook's face reflected surprise. "Payment could either be a flat fee or a percentage of profit earned or whatever else we could come up with."

"Me?"

"Would it cause problems with your job at Gringotts? I admit that I don't know all the rules in the wizarding world yet about stuff like this…"

"It would be wise to speak with Ragnok about this, but if the compensation is adequate I believe he would be agreeable. May I see the detail of the investments already made? I would like to get an idea of the volume to be worked with."

Harry handed over the appropriate bundle then added, "I've also talked with Winky and Tubow…um…they're…er…"

"Your head house elves, Mr. Potter. Yes, I know." Harry was momentarily surprised, but continued on.

"Yes. Well, we've sat down and came up with some figures of what we need and figure that we could add this much to what can be invested from what is currently in the vault." Harry pointed to a figure on an accompanying sheet he had scratched a bunch of numbers out on. "That still leaves a couple of year's expenses readily on hand before any investments should have to get sold, even if no income came in at all. Also, any additional profits earned beyond the income we want transferred back could stay to be reinvested elsewhere."

Griphook's eyes started to gleam. "I think we could definitely come to an agreement. Let me bring your request to Ragnok and I'll contact you in a day or two. What is your second item?"

Harry shifted nervously again. "I'm not sure if this would even be possible and as I said, I'm not real familiar with all the rules, but I inherited quite a sum from my Godfather. I was wondering if I could use that to help those who have been hurt financially by Lord Voldemort."

Griphook's eyes became guarded. Harry continued. "I don't want to tread on any of Gringotts business, but I was thinking about a girl I know, Cho Chang. I know her mother was having a hard time making ends meet after her father was kissed by Dementors. Now Cho needs some medical help and I imagine they're having an even harder time. Maybe they could qualify for a Gringott's loan or something, but if they couldn't, I would like to help them get back on their feet. Maybe even offer something like this class to teach how to best manage their galleons. I have a feeling all that was handled by Mr. Chang before the attack and maybe Mrs. Chang doesn't know so much about it."

Harry couldn't read what Griphook was thinking. "Once again, Mr. Potter, I'll bring this to Ragnok's attention and we will be contacting you shortly."

* * *

Harry spent a restless night. He wondered if he just royally messed up. Only now was Hagrid's warning from his first year coming back to haunt him. 'Never mess with Goblins.'

Harry was confused. He knew the goblins were trusted to keep wizards money, but from Griphook's reactions they apparently didn't do any more than that. They obviously knew all about what was needed to be done, though. It was obvious from his class that at least Griphook was more than capable to handle anything that came up and Harry had the impression that as clever as Griphook was, he wasn't in the higher levels in the bank.

Then for his second idea…. Harry might as well just throw up his hands and give up. For as much interest as Griphook had in his first idea, he seemed to totally lose it with his second. Harry wondered if he had somehow just gravely insulted the goblins. Harry probably just single-handedly started the whole next goblin rebellion.

On Wednesday morning he didn't feel any relief from his unease when he received an owl asking for a meeting with him that evening. Harry figured he'd have to reschedule a DA meeting so he took out his galleon and readjusted the time to reschedule for Thursday instead. Around the Great Hall many students felt a sudden warmth coming from their fake galleons and casually pulled them out to check what the new reading was. Hermione looked over at Harry questioningly.

"Something just came up. I've got to have tonight free." Everyone slowly made their way to their first class of the morning. For many of them it was Defense Against the Dark Arts. As Harry and his friends made their way into the room, Blaise passed nearby heading for a seat on the far side of the room. In a low tone and not making eye contact he said to Harry, "I see your Sickle idea was not a new one. You may want to emphasize a little more discretion in your 'study group'. I don't think anyone else noticed, but everyone pulling out galleons at the same time could raise some suspicions."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Thanks. I'll keep it in mind." The class then proceeded as normal with Professor Vigori giving lip service to the Protego shield then having them practice shooting confetti out of the wand.

Eventually the day passed and Harry paced back and forth in the common room after dinner. He wasn't sure what time his meeting would be and couldn't settle to do any homework. Finally Professor McGonagall entered the common room. This was an uncommon event so every eye turned towards her and silence fell. "Mr. Potter?" Her eyes searched the common room until they landed on the nervous Harry. Her eyes seemed to hold surprise, caution and slight worry. She made her way over to him and handed him a note.

_Please make your way to the Finance class room. You guests are awaiting your presence._

_Headmaster Dumbledore_

In a quiet voice, his professor asked, "Mr. Potter, what did you do?"

Harry just gave a slightly sick shrug back and swallowed heavily. He straightened his shoulders, gave his friends a quick wave and left to go to his doom.

As he made his way down the hall he started wondering about the wording of the note from his Headmaster. 'His guests'? As in more than one? Harry had thought that only Griphook would be coming. His heart was beating very fast as he descended the last staircase.

Harry entered the room and saw the Headmaster sitting in a comfortable chair along with two goblins also comfortably seated; Griphook and a goblin unknown to Harry. The Headmaster rose from his conjured chair and motioned Harry into the room. He, too, had a reserved, somewhat nervous look to his eye because of his unexpected guests. "Harry, imagine my surprise when our visitors arrived. You were expecting them?" Belatedly Harry realized he probably should have told his Headmaster that he would be having visitors coming to the school.

Griphook stood up. "Mr. Potter. I have passed along your ideas and Ragnok has decided he would like to speak to you in person about them. Ragnok, this is Mr. Potter." Ragnok inclined his head briefly in Harry's direction. His eyes seemed to be mostly hostile, but with a tinge of curiosity.

Harry mirrored the gesture and mumbled, "Pleased to meet you."

Harry could feel his Headmaster shift a little uncomfortably behind him. "Ragnok is in charge of Gringotts."

"Oh." Harry felt his Headmaster was trying to tell him something, but whatever it was, was going right over his head. He turned to the silent goblin. "You must be very busy then."

Harry could see that the seated goblin was darkly amused at Harry's reply. His smile was one that showed very pointed teeth and didn't seem truly happy. "Yes. Very busy." He turned his gaze to Professor Dumbledore. "If you would leave us, Headmaster Dumbledore…."

The old Headmaster left the room after one last concerned look at Harry. As the door closed, Harry swallowed hard. Now he was alone with two goblins and he had a feeling then next hour or so wasn't going to be so pleasant. Griphook moved to stand behind and to the side of the seated goblin, almost like a guard.

"I'm sorry. I should have told the Headmaster you were coming. I just never thought of it," Harry began. His stumbling explanation was cut off at the strange expression that quirked at the face of the seated goblin.

"Don't apologize. I must admit I was a bit surprised he was unaware of our coming, but his reaction was quite telling. He not only had no idea we were coming, he also does not know why we are here, does he?" The cynical amusement was back on Ragnok's face.

Harry's brow frowned in confusion. "No. It's about the currency in _my_ vault. Why should he know?"

Harry heard the same noise that he heard when he thought Griphook was laughing at him, this time coming from Ragnok. "You do not realize how closely he watches you? Even other beings understand his concern for you."

Harry thought briefly of the prophecy and Dumbledore needing to make sure he was safe. Then he thought of Dumbledore's confession about how he had not been able to follow through with his original plans for Harry out of his own caring for Harry's piece of mind.

"Maybe I should have run this past Professor Dumbledore before I asked Professor Griphook. I never meant any insult. I fully admit that being raised by muggles, I have very little knowledge of how things are traditionally run in the wizarding world. But I probably should have asked for more advice first to gain more knowledge. It just seemed logical at the time." Harry hoped that he could get his point across that he did not mean to insult the goblins.

Ragnok leaned forward in his comfortable chair. "Have a seat, Mr. Potter. Let's take this one item at a time. You're first idea of having Griphook handle any investments for you; that seemed logical to you?"

"Well, of course. It was only a suggestion. I know he has his own job at Gringotts, but I thought that if he was interested, Professor Griphook is someone I trust to know what he is doing and to handle any of the investments wisely for me. Like I said, he was just the first person I thought of. I can keep looking for someone else I trust to handle things for me."

"You are not interested in handling it yourself?" Ragnok's steady gaze stayed consistently on Harry's face.

"Not really. Of course, I'm interested in what it will be invested in, but I'm not interested in doing the research and stuff."

"And what would you want it to be invested in? Do you have restrictions?"

Harry thought for a moment. He had never really thought about it before, but he decided he did have some limitations. "I guess I would not want it invested in anything Dark."

"What is your definition of 'Dark'? The same as the Ministries?" Ragnok still kept his intense gaze focused squarely on Harry.

"I don't think so. I wouldn't want anything invested in anything that promotes serious harm to other beings." At the continued stare, Harry continued, "For example, I have some friends who have a joke shop. I would have no problem investing in their business, even though some of what they do may cross the line occasionally from what the Ministry deems acceptable. Their pranks never are made to cause lasting harmful effects. Now there are some shops I've seen that are approved by the Ministry, such as Borgin and Burkes, that have some truly awful things in it that are meant to cause lasting harm. Am I explaining this okay? Is this something even to be considered? When I mentioned it earlier, Professor Griphook seemed rather surprised and I wondered if it just wasn't done."

"You are explaining adequately. It has not been done since the 18th century. Not that it cannot be, just that it has not been. Moving on. Could you explain to me your second idea? I am not understanding the intentions."

"I have a classmate whose family was hurt by Lord Voldemort." Harry briefly noticed that Ragnok did not flinch at the name even though Griphook did slightly. "I also inherited quite a lot from my Godfather, Sirius Black. I just want that money to do something good for those who have been hurt if they need it." Harry noticed that Ragnok's face was totally impassive. "I really have no idea how it could even be set up or managed. If the victims qualify for a Gringotts loan or could manage things another way, that's fine, but if someone doesn't…. I'd hate to see their lives damaged even more if there was something I could do to stop it."

"So you want to set up a fund for wizards?"

"Not necessarily just wizards. Any being really. I know He's attacked other beings and muggles. Would there be any way to find out what happens to his victims in the muggle world? Sometimes it may not even be money that's needed but training in how to use what they have left. I learned a lot in Professor Griphook's class, even if my grade was only 'acceptable' I do know how useful that teaching could be to others. If he, or someone else like him, could teach others who need it…maybe the fund could pay for their teaching time."

Ragnok looked at Harry with consideration. "You do realize that the amount you are speaking of is quite a large amount of galleons. As it stands, you are one of the wealthiest patrons of our bank. Removing those galleons will lower your worth considerably."

Harry just shrugged. "I still have more than enough for me. Being the richest doesn't matter to me."

Ragnok finally ended his fixed gaze of Harry's face and turned towards Griphook. "You were correct. He is an unusual wizard." Harry rolled his eyes. So what was new? Ragnok faced Harry again. "I believe I understand your intentions now. I think we might allow a trial. Mr. Potter, I will choose someone from my loan department to bring into this. One who I feel could have a solid understanding of what you hope to accomplish. You will need at least one wizard participating in the counseling. Not many of your kind are wise enough to listen to what we have to say." Harry remembered the student that walked out of class the first day. "Perhaps Miss Delacour. She is familiar with what is needed for loan analysis and has a solid background in advising others. I believe your Headmaster might be able to point you to someone who could work with her in finding who may qualify for your 'loans'. What would you want to call this fund? 'The Harry Potter Foundation'?"

Harry shook his head emphatically. "No way. Keep my name out of it. If it has to be called anything, call it 'Padfoot's Fund' or something."

"Yes. I will allow a trial. As long as any time spent on either your personal vault investments or the charitable trust be recompensed to Gringotts. If that can be agreed on, I will allow Griphook or any others working for Gringotts to participate in this if they so desire."

"I agree. I agree that it is to be a trial also. Both ways. This is new to me, too. I think both parties should be willing to stop it if we don't feel it's working like we hope."

"Agreed, Mr. Potter." Harry and Ragnok both stood and shook hands again. Griphook came forward and shook Harry's hand also, telling Harry to call him just 'Griphook' and he'd be pleased to work for a percentage of profit instead of a flat fee. Harry then gave them permission to access to his vault in the sections and amounts affected and they left the room.

They made their way to the Entrance Hall and Harry saw the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall coming from the Great Hall. Professor Dumbledore gave a respectful bow to Ragnok. Harry watched with widening eyes and a dreadful suspicion began to build in his stomach. The Headmaster spoke to Ragnok. "Your business is complete?"

"Yes. A successful visit I think. I believe we are entering an interesting era. Things could be changing." Ragnok inclined his head to the Headmaster and then turned to Harry. Again Harry heard the strange soft laughing sound coming from the goblin as he saw the dawning realization in Harry's eyes. "It has been a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Potter. I hope our business together runs smoothly."

"Y…yes. Me too." Another laugh and the two goblins left Hogwarts. Harry turned to his Headmaster. "He's not just the manager of the bank, is he?" It came out as more a statement than a question.

"No. Ragnok holds the highest position in Goblin society. He is the leader of all goblins in the United Kingdom. Would you mind explaining why he was at my school?"

Harry weakly closed his eyes. He couldn't believe he had just been chatting so casually with the goblin leader. He gave a sickly smile at his professors. "Not at all."

* * *

Harry spent the next hour explaining to his professors what he'd been thinking since finding out about his finances and what he had proposed to Griphook. He also asked for their help in finding someone to work with Fleur or whoever the bank contact would be in identifying Voldemort's victims who may need help. Professor Dumbledore immediately said he would start thinking about that. When asked why he did not seek one of their counsel, Harry just shrugged and said he didn't think of it. He knew that wasn't really the truth. Anytime his mind would drift towards asking either of them their opinions he realized he subconsciously re-directed his thoughts elsewhere. Harry knew he hadn't wanted to explain all that had been on his statement, such as Potter Place. When Harry finally left, both professors had stunned looks on their faces.

The next weekend came and went. The Daily Prophet was running stories on some of the new proposals being submitted for laws to the Wizengamot by Interim Madam Minister Umbridge. Harry couldn't believe some of them. Horrible added restrictions for werewolves, centaurs, goblins; any creature other than wizards actually. Harry knew that it wasn't illegal for Griphook to handle his finances, but it would be soon if Umbridge had her way. Harry wondered if that was in reaction to a small article that had been written in the Daily Prophet because of Griphook's appearance in public, buying and selling on Harry's behalf.

He'd had some explaining to do to his friends when that article came out. Ron had seemed to swallow hard when Harry mentioned money but had held his tongue. Harry told how one thing he learned was that unlike Ron, he didn't have a talent for managing money. He mentioned his brainstorm about hiring Griphook. Hermione interrupted at that point. She mentioned that Harry should have known that Goblins didn't handle that type of thing. They had learned that in their History of Magic class after all. Harry shrugged and just said he must have slept through that lesson. There was a very good chance that it was true after all. He often caught up on his sleep during Binns' classes. He continued to describe his meeting with Ragnok and Griphook. Ginny now had the strongest reaction. She had heard stories from her brother Bill about the goblin leader. Harry mentioned how stupid he felt when he finally realized who he was and how he sometimes felt he was just comic relief to the goblins. He avoided mentioning the money inherited from Sirius. He wanted to keep that private.

There were a few articles about how Fudge's condition was not changing, but was getting the highest care possible under Healer Blythefield. One morning Harry asked about that. "Neville, do you know this Healer Blythefield?"

Neville shook his head. "No. He usually stays away from the normal care of patients at St. Mungo's. I know more about Healer-In-Training Bosworth. She's the one that takes care of my parents." He said this last part very quietly. "Why Harry?"

"I don't know. It's just sounding strange to me. You trust Healer-In-Training Bosworth?"

"Yeah. She seems like a good person. I'll miss her when she finishes her training. She cares about people even if they can't care back." Neville seemed to have felt he said enough on the subject and turned back to his food without looking at Harry any longer.

Another week went by and on the 20th of November Harry received a surprise letter with the morning mail. It was in a very thick parchment envelope carried by a pretentious looking owl. Harry accepted it with a feeling of dread. He looked to his friends. Each one was looking back at him, not moving a muscle. Slowly Harry opened the envelope. He scanned the letter noticing the seal of the Minister of Magic at the bottom.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_You have been invited to the Ministry of Magic for discussions on occurrences of last year. You are to present yourself to Interim Madam Minister Umbridge's office at 3:00 p.m. on Friday the 13th of December 1996._

_Delores Jane Umbridge_

_Interim Madam Minister for Magic_

A note was attached inside the letter.

_Harry,_

_I know you probably didn't expect to hear from me, but I just had to write a short note. I don't know if I'll be seeing you when you have your meeting with our new Madam Minister and I know you like your solitude, but having friends near you is always a good thing._

_You should see what a job she is doing. She is filling in so well you would almost think she could have been planning for this position for a long time. Feel free to respond as you like. Communication is just as secure as it was last year in case you were concerned._

_Percy Ignatius Weasley_

Harry didn't say anything. He just handed the letter to Ron. Hermione and Ginny leaned over his shoulder to read along. When they looked up each had a look of confusion on their face. Ron finally broke the silence. "What in the name of Merlin is this? She wants to talk to you about last year? Since when? And what is with this note from Percy? Since when would he write anything to you?" Ron scowled at his brother's handwriting.

Hermione was frowning at the note again, re-reading Percy's note. "I think it might be a warning. Ron's right. Percy would never just write you a note. It has to mean more."

"Sounds like a load of bull to me." Ron said, re-reading it himself. "He thinks she's doing a great job and everything is secure. Doesn't he remember all our owls were being watched by the Ministry last year?"

Ginny broke in. "I think Hermione is right. _'…Could have been planning for this position for a long time_?' I think he's suspicious of Umbridge. '_Communication is just as secure as last year…_'? I think he's trying to tell us that the owls are being watched by the Ministry again this year."

Ron now frowned at the letter. " '…_having friends nearby is always a good thing_.' He could be warning Harry to not ever be alone with her." His friends all looked up at Harry. He still hadn't a word. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll take it to Dumbledore."

* * *

Harry had an Occlumency class that evening and he brought his letter with him. He showed his Professor the letter and Percy's note and told him what they thought the note might mean. The Headmaster closed his eyes and sighed. "I agree with your assessment. I, myself, have had doubts about our Interim Minister, but without proof can do nothing. I will send Professor McGonagall with you to your meeting. As a minor you should be able to keep an adult representative from the school with you at all times. I will also see if I can come up with any more information about this." With that said, they moved on to their lesson.

* * *

That weekend, Harry was brooding in the common room. He was nervous and he just had a bad feeling about his Ministry summons. He had homework open in front of him, but was paying absolutely no attention to it. Suddenly he heard a throat clear and saw Ginny with Ron and Hermione behind her standing near.

"Harry, can we talk?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Come down into the trunk. We'll talk there."

Harry agreed and followed them up to the boy's dormitory and down inside the dimensional room. They had previously expanded two additional armchairs and a table so it now looked more like a meeting place rather than a large empty room. Each took a seat.

Ginny started. "Harry, we've been talking. We think you should start the animagus transformation now instead of waiting for Christmas Break. We don't know how your meeting at the Ministry will go, but it can't be good. Umbridge hates you. We all know that."

Ron shuddered. "Besides, it's on Friday the thirteenth. Nothing good could happen on such a bad luck day."

Hermione frowned at him. "Besides unsubstantiated myths, we think it would be good for you to have a back up plan. It is possible that turning into your slug could help you out somehow."

Harry softly laughed at her attempt to lighten the mood. Ginny reached over to him and covered his hand with her own. "You said you were ready to try, right?"

"Yes. I could. Who would help me with the trance?" Harry knew he'd have no problem with the spell. He could wordlessly and wandlessly hold the animating spell for over ten minutes now.

"I will." Hermione stood up and walked over to the bookshelf where they had the book with the most details on how the trance worked. Ginny went over and took out a miniaturized beanbag and enlarged it.

Ron saw that Harry was becoming nervous. "We figure you've got three weekends to get this thing down, mate. That should be no problem."

Harry suddenly remembered. "I can't do it this weekend. I've got potions tutoring tomorrow."

Hermione glared at him. "We can explain to Audra. What is more important? Huh?"

Harry surrendered. He did find it ironic that his friends were pushing him so hard to become an illegal animagus. Even Hermione.

Ginny started pulling at him to get up. "Now come over here and lie down on this." She pushed him down on the bag. They all sat around him on the floor. Hermione started the process.

"Close your eyes Harry and follow my voice. Listen to the rhythm of my words…" Harry let himself be pulled into a trance-like state. Distantly he heard Hermione's voice continue. "I want you to look for your animal. Look deep within yourself. What do you see?"

Harry looked. "Flames." A burst of flame had appeared in front of him. He distantly heard some questioning sounds. "I see flames, but they don't burn. They're dying down now. There's a bird. A golden-red phoenix! There's red on the back but lots of gold on the wings and tail. More than Fawkes." Harry was staring at awe at the wonderful phoenix in front of him. Suddenly something came leaping out of the shadows caused by the fiery lights thrown from the bird. Something black with long fangs, snarling at him and lunging for his throat. Harry screamed and snapped out of his trance.


	11. Phoenix Escape

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

Chapter 11 The Phoenix Escape

Harry slowly woke. He kept his eyes closed. He knew something must have happened. He needed to figure out what. He could hear his friends hovering over him.

Hermione was panicking. "Harry? Harry! Wake up! Are you all right? Please be alright. Please don't make me be responsible for putting you in a coma or something."

Ron was torn between trying to help Harry and trying to calm Hermione. "Harry? He'll be fine, Hermione. You'll see. Harry? You there, mate?"

Harry could feel someone rubbing his hand. Ginny's soft voice came from his left. She was the one holding his hand. "Come on, Harry. Come back to us. It's all right. Everything's fine. Just open your eyes."

He opened his eyes and saw his three friends take deep breaths of relief at the same time. "What happened?"

Hermione frowned. "Don't you remember? We were doing the animagus trance. You saw a phoenix. It was going great. Then all of a sudden you tensed and let out a scream. Do you remember at all?"

Memories started to trickle back. He remembered his awe seeing the golden-scarlet phoenix. He remembered the shadows in the background and how suddenly one shadow seemed to detach and launch itself at Harry. "There was another animal."

Hermione stiffened. "But that's impossible! All the books we looked at said that a wizard has only one animal inside."

"Well, maybe it wasn't an animal I could change into, but there was definitely another animal." Harry gave a shudder.

Ginny moved her hand to his shoulder. "What did it look like?"

"I didn't see it at first. It seemed to blend perfectly with the shadows that surrounded the area. It was…I don't know…something like a black wolf, maybe, but different. I don't know how to explain it. I've never seen anything like it before. It had these huge fangs."

"Why'dya shout, though, mate?" Ron seemed perplexed by that.

Harry gave an impatient look at his best friend. "What would you do if something you hadn't known was there suddenly leapt out from the shadows with a snarl and tried to rip your throat out?"

Ron looked a little sick. "I suppose I would have shouted, too."

Harry ran a hand through his hair with frustration. Doing so pushed up the fringe on his forehead and revealed his scar. Hermione tilted her head to one side with a thoughtful expression on her face looking at it.

"Maybe…" Everyone looked up at her, waiting for her to continue. "Maybe it's like the Parseltongue. Maybe, somehow, a second form was transferred to you when you were a baby."

Harry shrugged. He was still a little antsy thinking about what he'd seen. "But what do you think it is? Do you think it would stop me from turning into the phoenix?"

Hermione frowned. "I don't know. Are you willing to keep going to try to find out?"

Harry had to pause to think about it for a minute. There was a possibility that whatever it was that leapt out at him could interfere somehow. What if he changed into a half-phoenix/half-whatever-that-was? Could a partial animal like that survive? Harry knew that partial transformations were the biggest danger. If a wizard couldn't transform completely, the part that did might not be able to support that part that didn't. A bird's heart could not pump enough blood if it had human legs.

Ginny spoke up. "I think you can do it. The spell requires total concentration on the animal you're transforming into. You just can't let thoughts of that other shadow-thing enter your mind. You could do it, Harry. You're Occlumency already has you practicing to focus on phoenix song. You're used to it. It should be no problem!"

Harry slowly nodded. "I think I will keep going." He glanced around somewhat nervously. "You'll all stay here. Right?"

"Of course, Harry." Hermione assured him.

Harry gave a tentative smile at the other three. He really was lucky to have such good friends and he knew that if anything did go wrong, they would be right there to help him out. No matter what.

Harry took a deep breath and set his wand by his feet. He stood and took a step back. "Here I go. Wish me luck." He closed his eyes and focused on the phoenix he had seen during his trance. He brought back every detail he could remember. The scarlet on the back and neck. The gold on the chest, wings and tail. Even the black around the eyes and mixed in the with scarlet on the crest along the back of the head. When the image was clear he recited the spell only in his mind that he had learned so well but had never tried. '_Bestia mutation corpus et animus magus'._

Harry could feel the magic starting to transform his body. It started as a slow tingle that seemed to wash over him. Then he felt a compacting sensation. The pressure was starting to build at an enormous pace until suddenly he felt a bone give way. Then another and another. Harry cried out in pain. He fell to the floor. Just when Harry didn't think he could take any more pain, it changed. The new feeling in his bones was a burning heat. He could now feel what his father described as a melting of his bones. Harry still determinedly kept the image of the phoenix in front of him, hoping that his concentration on the form was blocking some of the pain. Finally the pain just stopped.

Harry lay still for a while trying to get orientated. He felt like he'd been run over by a herd of hippogriffs. Finally he opened his eyes and looked up. He looked way up. "Guys?" Harry tried to talk but it came out as a chirp. He blinked. He dragged himself up to a sitting position. He cocked his head and viewed his friends. They were all standing, staring at him. Harry slowly got to his feet and tried to take a step towards them but overbalanced and fell flat on his face. Suddenly he heard laughter.

"Yep. It's you, mate. Wondered there for a second. Looked rather too refined there and started to doubt. But it's definitely you." Harry shook his head at Ron's comment.

Ginny knelt down by him, her face still reflecting her awe. She tentatively held out a hand to touch him. "May I?"

Harry butted his head underneath her palm and she started to run her hand over his feathers.

Hermione knelt down as well. Her gaze was much more assessing. "You still have green eyes," Her mouth quirked up at the corner. "and your crest feathers tend to stick up on the top of your head instead of lying back like Fawkes' do."

Harry tried to look at her indignantly. Then Ginny started laughing. "Oh, Harry, I hate to tell you but you still have your scar." She point at his head and looked at the other two. "See how these little black feathers seem at bit misshapen? They form the famous 'lightning bolt'."

Harry gave a squawk. He wanted to see. He started to turn his head. The pain was still intense, but he was curious. He was able to bend his neck in all sorts of angles. He looked down and saw the gold on his chest. He looked over his shoulder and was amazed that his head kept going back. He could see the long gold and scarlet plumes of his tail. He spread it out. It was pretty cool. He wasn't sure how he knew how to do that, but if he didn't think about it, it happened. He decided to take a closer look at his wings. He started to spread them wide. That may have been a mistake. He was quite sore. It felt like all his muscles were stretched out of shape, which he supposed they had, and he ached in every joint. He tentatively extended his wings and was surprised at how far they reached. He thought they reached out about five feet across. Finally Hermione brought out a mirror and held it in front of him.

Harry could see that his friends were right about his facial features. The feathers above the black mask around his eyes were scarlet, but had a few feathers pointing awkwardly which formed a lightning bolt design. His eyes were still the same green and his 'hair' still wouldn't lay flat. Harry sighed.

Hermione lifted the mirror away. "Why don't you see what you can do? Do you think you could fly?"

Harry tried to flap his wings and couldn't hold back a cry of pain. Suddenly he felt a hot fiery sensation that burned deep inside of him. He started to see flames. The he heard a loud shriek and distantly knew it came from himself. Then it was over. Everything was dark. He felt like everything was muffled, almost like he was covered by something.

Once again he could hear frantic calling from his friends.

"Harry! Harry, where'd ya go, mate?"

"Harry? Harry!"

Suddenly Harry could feel a light brushing sensation above his head and light showed in his cocoon of darkness. A monstrously large Ginny was looking down at him. She reached down and gently scooped him up in her hands. He was a little surprised that he fit there. He must have shrunk again.

"Here he is. Harry?"

Harry was dismayed to find he couldn't move at all. The most he could manage was an undignified flop. He couldn't even talk. Not that they could hear him anyway.

A large Hermione face peered into Ginny's hands down at him. "He must have burned and regenerated. I should have expected that. If the transformation is as bad as Harry's dad's journal says, he probably was in a lot of pain. If a phoenix's level of stress gets too high, they regenerate and start again as a chick."

"Not too good-looking now, is he?" There was Ron, as encouraging as ever, taking in the bald, wrinkled form of his friend.

Harry had had enough of this helpless feeling. He wanted to be back to normal. He closed his eyes and focused intently on the spell to reverse the change. Once again he felt a wash of magic and then the shifting began in his body. The pain intensified and he felt himself on the verge of blacking out as muscles re-routed themselves and bones cracked and reformed. He could feel himself changing.

Harry could feel that he was lying down. He had absolutely no energy and pain once again screamed in every muscle and joint. He also was simply exhausted. He heard a soft moan underneath him. At least he didn't think it was his own.

A soft chuckle was heard off to the side. "You want to get off of my sister? I think she's having a hard time breathing."

Harry finally took notice of where he was lying. Or to be more specific, on whom he was lying on. His head was very comfortably pillowed against a soft stomach. Under his torso was a pair of legs. He gingerly lifted his head and looked up to see Ginny trying to catch her breath.

Harry gathered his strength and rolled away from her. He just stayed lying back on the floor looking up at the ceiling. He thought he could probably stay here all weekend. He heard Ginny moving to sit up. "Sorry, Ginny."

"No problem, Harry. Just next time give a little warning if I'm carrying you and you decide to change back."

"Will do. By the way, a word to the wise, don't try to do anything the first time you change. Not a good idea."

Hermione leaned over him. "Harry, that really was amazing. You burned! I've never seen a phoenix burn. We didn't know what had happened to you. Then when Ginny found you in that pile of ashes…" Hermione's eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Ron came over dragging a beanbag. "Here, mate. Instead of lying on the floor, why don't you use this? Should be a bit more comfortable."

Harry just looked how tall the beanbag looked from his point of view. He wasn't sure he could muster the energy to get up even that far. His friends decided to help him and started to pull and push him into the beanbag. Finally he was lying comfortably in the form-fitting chair.

Ron pulled a chair near him and leaned forward expectantly. "So what was it like?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Painful."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but other than that. What'd it feel like? I mean, first you're a phoenix, then you're on fire, for Merlin's sake, and then a baby chick! What'd it feel like?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Well, I was always me, mentally anyway. You know what I mean? The phoenix form felt powerful and pretty great, except for the pain. I think I will have a lot fun exploring what it's like in that form. The burning…that hurt again. That felt like real fire. Then as a chick…I couldn't do anything. I didn't like that feeling at all. It was like I was helpless."

Hermione was almost bouncing in her seat. "This is so interesting. Your mind never changed as you changed forms?"

"No. I think when you change forms you get some of the animals instincts, but you still have your mind and memories. Like I was able to spread my tail feathers. I don't know how I knew how to do that, but I could. I hope it will work the same way with flying; that some of the animals' instincts will help guide us in learning how to adapt to their forms and abilities."

Ginny stood. "Well, I'm getting hungry and it's almost lunch time." She looked at Harry. "I don't suppose you feel up to going to the Great Hall. At least you sure don't look like it."

Harry shook his head. "Do we have any food left down here? A small sandwich is probably all I could eat right now. What I'd really like is to soak in the tub for a while and then just sleep the day away."

Ginny got up and took a look in the cupboards in the kitchen area. "I'm afraid not. Anything in here is questionable to say the least. We can bring you back something from the Great Hall, though." She turned to her brother. "Ron, why don't you help Harry to the loo and get him in the tub. We'll let him soak for a while and then when we're done eating you can get him out and he can have his lunch. Sound good?"

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

The bath helped Harry's sore muscles immensely. He was as good as his word and basically slept the entire weekend away. Even Monday he was still on the sore side.

Harry found an interesting side effect to the animagus spell. He only had to focus on the phoenix form, 'Flame' they've started calling it, to be able to tell at what stage it was in growing. It was still a chick, so he had no interest in changing into it.

One evening Ron and Harry were playing chess. Harry was losing, as normal, when Ron suddenly asked, "So, if Harry's a phoenix animagus, does that mean he's immortal? Is that why you didn't die when you were a baby?"

Harry didn't know, but Hermione looked up from the book she was reading. "No, Ron. A phoenix isn't immortal; they just live such a long time that it almost seems that way. When a phoenix body starts to fail, he burns and regenerates, like Harry did." She obviously had done some research. "If a phoenix is left alone, it can live for hundreds of years, maybe thousands, but they can have accidents or be killed before that."

Harry thought for a moment. "I saw Fawkes survive a killing curse. He swallowed it and turned back into a chick."

Hermione frowned. "They shouldn't be able to survive that. Who cast it?"

"Voldemort."

"That is very strange." She looked pensieve. She started to ask Harry a question in a very tentative manner, almost as if she was afraid he'd blow up at her, "Harry, you and V-Voldemort share wand cores, right? At the end of Fourth year you mentioned you had brother wands. What is the core of your wand?"

Harry looked down. "A tail feather from Fawkes."

Hermione looked triumphant. "That's why it didn't kill him. Just as the wands wouldn't work properly against each other, they wouldn't work properly against the source of the core, either."

"So otherwise Fawkes would've died?"

"Yes. A phoenix can burn when their body becomes stressed, but such a sudden attack would give it no time to complete the burning. Also a phoenix is very vulnerable when a chick. If they don't have proper guarding, they can be easily killed at that time." She turned to Ron. "So Harry isn't immortal and could be in danger even as 'Flame'. He still needs to avoid the Avada Kedavra curse as anyone would."

After a few more days passed, Harry could sense that 'Flame' was again full-sized. As it was Saturday again, Harry decided to start to explore his new form. All he had to do now was focus on Flame and will him to come him. He didn't need to go through all the spellwork anymore. He was also happy to see he didn't have any uncomfortable pain while transforming.

Flying was the first thing Harry learned. It was wonderful. He loved the freedom he felt just flitting around the room. He couldn't wait to try it outside. Ron and Hermione were in the trunk with him. Hermione had a book open to a section on the phoenix. "Okay. It says that a phoenix can lift immense weights." She looked up. "Can you?"

In reply, Harry flew over to Ron. He turned his back to him and waved his tail feathers. Ron's face lit up with recognition. "I know this one. Come here, Hermione, and hold my hand." She gave him a funny little look, but did as he said. Ron reached out to Harry's tail and grabbed hold. "They're warm! I didn't expect that." Back in their second year, Harry had been the one to hold on to Fawkes tail. Suddenly Hermione gave a brief shriek. Harry remembered the feeling of sudden lightness and thought maybe they were feeling the same. He started to hover above the ground and pulled Ron and Hermione up with him. He held them there for a few seconds and then lowered back to the floor.

Hermione's eyes were wide. "I guess that's a yes. How about teleporting? It says that a phoenix can disappear in a flash of fire and reappear elsewhere."

Harry had no reference on how to do this. He tried to clear his mind and see if any instinct came through on how to work it. He thought of the kitchen area. Some sunflower seeds sounded good right now. He thought there may be a few left from last summer. He closed his eyes and thought of the counter in the kitchen area. He felt a warm tingle flash over him. When he opened them again, he found himself on the counter. He looked back across at his friends. Hermione was beaming and even Ron had a wide smile on his face. Suddenly he spoke, "Stay here, a minute. I'll be right back." Ron scampered up the ladder to the boy's dorm and closed the trunk lid. In a moment he came back down. He carried the Marauder's Map in his hand. "Ginny said she was going to study in the library. See if you can get all the way over there and back."

"Ron, there are too many people about to do that!"

"No, Hermione. See? That's why I wanted the map. She's alone in the back at one of the study desks. Harry shouldn't be seen by anyone."

Harry flew over to the map to take a look. Sure enough, Ginny was sitting alone at the moment at a study desk. Harry closed his eyes and thought about being by Ginny in the Library. The warm tingle washed over him again. He opened his eyes to see a very startled girl looking at him.

"Harry?" Harry gave a laughing little chirping sound. Ginny's eyes started to twinkle. "Playing, are you? Well, you'd better get back. Colin's just gone to get another book, but he'll be back soon."

Harry bobbed his head and flashed back to the trunk. Ron and Hermione were huddled over the map. "You did it! We could see you on the map. It still labels you as 'Harry Potter'. This is so cool!"

"The last thing this book mentions is healing tears."

"Hey, my elbow has a scrape on it. Think you could fix it, mate?"

Harry flew over to Ron who lifted his robe past his elbow. Harry thought of how Fawkes had cried for him twice before. He tried to let tears come to his eyes. Nothing happened. How did one go about crying anyhow? Cho seemed to be able to cry at a drop of a hat, but Harry never had cried much in his life and certainly not on demand. The Dursley's would only treat him worse if he did and he actually could only think of one time in recent years when he did cry in front of anyone else. That was that day Remus came to visit him at the Dursleys early in the summer.

Eventually Harry looked up at Ron who seemed to understand that Harry couldn't cry at least not in public like this. He looked over to Hermione. She looked ready to cry. Harry had a feeling that Hermione also realized why he couldn't. He hated to see his friends sad on his behalf. He thought of how phoenix song always helped him. He knew he, as Harry, was no singer, but maybe as Flame the song could work. Harry started to pipe a strangely unearthly melody. Hermione and Ron both froze in place to listen. Harry kept it up for a short while then stopped and changed into himself.

"You forgot the song, Hermione. Makes you feel better or more brave if you're a good person, but awful if you're not."

Hermione snapped out of the trance she had fallen into while listening. She whispered, "That was incredible! I've never felt that before."

"I think we'll stop here for today. I'll try to think of other things I've seen Fawkes do. I've seen him do that flash thing with Dumbledore along. Um…he's left a tail feather as a warning message…. I'll try to think of other things, too. Maybe see if I can figure out how he did them all. I still have almost two weeks to figure everything out before the Ministry meeting. Hopefully I won't need any of it."

Hermione met his gaze. "You don't really believe that, though. Do you?"

Harry let out a small snort. "No."

* * *

Harry practiced on and off in the time remaining before the Ministry interview. He had talked to Remus via mirror and told him about the meeting and their concerns. Remus felt the same. He thought there would be no good reason for their Interim Minister to want to talk to Harry, especially with their unfriendly past. He made Harry promise to keep the mirror with him at all times. Just in case.

The Ministry visit happened to coincide with the last day of classes before Christmas Break. None of the classes were doing anything but review, so it didn't matter that Harry couldn't keep his concentration at all. If all went well, Harry would be back at Hogwarts in time to catch the train to London to spend his time at Grimmauld Place. He just couldn't help but feel things weren't going to work out that way.

Finally it was time for Harry to meet Professor McGonagall. She was going to be his escort for this visit. Harry was nervous. He knew Professor McGonagall was as well as her expression was very tight. "Mr. Potter, the Ministry has authorized a Portkey for our use. It will activate in just two minutes."

Harry groaned. This made it definite. Something bad was going to happen. He looked up at his Professor (he briefly wondered if he would ever get taller than her). "Professor, if something bad should happen, could you make sure that Umbridge's wand gets checked for spells?"

His Professor looked sharply at him. "Nothing is going to happen to you, Mr. Potter. Several people will be watching out for you today. Nothing is going to happen." Harry wondered if she was trying to convince him or herself.

"Something _will_ happen. I just don't know what or to whom." Harry muttered darkly.

His professor looked at him curiously. "What makes you so sure?"

Harry looked at her. "What makes me _suspect_ is that I'm being called to see a Minister that hates me. What makes me _know_ is that we're taking a Portkey. You can ask Remus about that."

McGonagall's eyebrow rose even higher. "I know you don't get along with our Interim Minister, hardly anyone does, but surely you don't think she hates you? Dislike, yes, but hate?"

"Fudge dislikes me. Umbridge hates me. I know the difference." Harry heard a noise in the doorway and saw the Headmaster standing there. There was concern in his eyes.

"Take care, Harry. Try to stay around other people as much as possible."

Harry tried to smile at the old Headmaster. "I will, sir."

McGonagall shifted and looked at her watch. "It's time, Potter. Hang on and …three…two…one." They were gone.

* * *

They landed at the Ministry receiving area, just to the left of the main lobby. Harry saw the same numbers and symbols flashing across the ceiling as he saw last year at his trial. The fountain of magical brethren had just become an ordinary fountain, although there was a small model of what was to be placed there eventually, a wizard and witch with their hands spread outwards. Kneeling in front of them were goblins, house elves, centaurs, werewolves and several other creatures. Harry thought that Umbridge definitely had some power issues.

Harry and Professor McGonagall got in line to have their wands checked. As they had left the receiving area they had received visitor badges. Harry's read 'Visitor to the Minister' and his professor's read 'Escort of Visitor to the Minister'. Harry, with a shade of black humor, decided it could just have well read 'Off to meet his doom' and the feeling he carried in his gut wouldn't be out of place. They finally reached the front of the line and had their wands duly recorded.

They made their way to the elevators and eventually reached the Minister's offices. Harry was happy to see that one of the aurors standing guard outside of the office was Kingsley Shacklebolt. Harry followed Professor McGonagall's lead and did not show outward sign of recognition beyond a polite nod. The second auror was Dawlish. Harry wasn't so pleased to see him and imagined that his professor wasn't either. He was one of them that attacked her last year. He could sense her stiffening at the sight of him.

Professor McGonagall introduced herself and Harry to the secretary who in turn, buzzed through to let Interim Madam Minister Umbridge know they were there. They took a seat while they waited for the Minister to make time for them. Harry knew it was a game. He guessed they would be forced to wait about fifteen minutes past the time of their appointment. Not because Umbridge was busy, but because she could make them wait so she would so.

It was actually twenty minutes before the secretary said that Harry could go through to see Madam Umbridge. Professor McGonagall followed but was stopped at the door by Dawlish. "Only Mr. Potter has authorization to enter."

"I am his escort. He is an underage student. I need to stay with him as an adult representative." McGonagall was trying to stay calm and state her position as if it was an obvious fact.

Umbridge came to the doorway. She was looking particularly nauseating in a bright orange dress that emphasized her wide girth. "Hem, hem. What is the delay?" She asked in her falsely sweet voice while she smiled her wide, toad-like smile.

"This woman says she needs to stay with Potter." Dawlish replied.

Umbridge's smile widened. "You think he is on trial? You think he needs protection from me? Don't be silly, Minerva. You will be called when it is time for him to return to Hogwarts." When Professor McGonagall didn't move, she gave shooing motions with her hands. "You may go. Dismissed. Come, Mr. Potter."

Professor McGonagall gave a despairing look to Harry. Dawlish took her arm to escort her from the office. Harry had a panicked moment and thought hard.

"Wait a moment! Just one thing before you go…" He saw Umbridge glaring at him. "I just need to tell her something before she leaves. Won't be a moment." He turned to his Professor and shoved his wand in her hand. In a low voice he said, "Give this to Ginny Weasley. Tell her to put it in her trunk."

Professor McGonagall was shocked. "Mr. Potter, you need to keep your wand with you. Now more than ever!"

"Professor, the only way I can use it is for defense and who's going to believe I needed defense against the Minister? When Fudge was attacked, Umbridge's wand was checked, but I don't think his was. I actually think I will be safer without it. Please! Kingsley is still here. I should be fine."

Harry could tell his professor was reluctant, but she did agree and Harry turned back to enter the Minister's office. He had a feeling of doom when he heard the door slam shut behind him.

Harry took a look around the office. He imagined it looked quite different from when Fudge resided here. There were the same plates on the walls with kittens tumbling back and forth as she had when she was the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. He also saw a terrarium which held several orange toads. He thought they were quite appropriate pets for her. They say pets resemble their owners, well this owner resembled her pets.

Percy Weasley was sitting to one side of the desk with a notepad open on his lap and a quill at the ready. Madam Umbridge seemed unaware he was sitting there.

"Have a seat, Mr. Potter. Shall we start with a spot of tea?" She was looking at him with anticipation.

Percy jumped up. "Shall I pour?" he asked brightly.

Umbridge scowled. "I think not. You may go, Mr. Weasley."

"But I can take notes. Keep a record of what goes on here." Percy seemed anxious to stay.

Madam Umbridge scowled more darkly before she plastered an insincere smile on her face. "Hem Hem. That will not be necessary. This is just an informal chat. Nothing for the record. You may leave, Mr. Weasley."

Percy looked uncomfortably at Harry. "But…"

"Mr. Weasley, you will either leave this office willingly or you will be dragged out and never work again. I shall see to that!" Her voice rose to a higher and higher pitch as she spoke.

Percy gave a resigned look at Harry and left the room. Umbridge turned back to Harry. "Now where was I? Oh yes, tea."

With 'constant vigilance' ringing through his brain, Harry tried to decline. "I'm not terribly thirsty, thank you. What did you want to see me about?"

"I wish you to have a drink with me," she said, her voice becoming even more sinisterly girlish. "Your preference is tea, yes? See? I remember." She set a cup in front of him. "Drink up, Mr. Potter, before it gets cold."

Harry could feel pressure building inside his chest. He knew he couldn't drink whatever was in that cup. There was no Professor Snape here putting water in it instead of whatever vile concoction she wanted him to ingest. But he also had to do something with it. Whatever it was, he bet it was the same thing that did in Fudge. Fudge was now in the mental ward at St. Mungo's. Harry wondered what was supposed to happen when he drank. Harry glanced around for something to pour the liquid into. He didn't see anything obvious. There weren't even any plants around for him to dump it into. Harry decided he would have to wandlessly transfigure something.

Harry sent a wordless spell to a plate hanging on the wall, making it fall. Umbridge turned at the noise and Harry quickly slipped a doily out from under a revolting figurine of a cat doing a handstand. He transfigured it into a waterproof bladder canteen and poured some of his tea into it. He quickly hid it up his left arm sleeve. He pretended to take a sip, firmly keeping his mouth closed.

Harry could feel even the small bit that touched his lips affect his mind. He had a sudden feeling of being in a tunnel and felt an urge to start coughing so he exaggerated it and pretended to have a coughing fit. Umbridge abruptly turned and Harry could see her false smile widen to a genuine one.

"Very good, Mr. Potter." She took the cup away from him and vanished it, getting rid of the evidence. "Soon you will be joining Former Minister Fudge at St. Mungo's. Every week you'll get some more 'treatment'. You're just too big a threat to me, you see. People listen to what you have to say. I could see it when that silly article came out last year. Even though it was in the Quibbler, for Merlin's sake, people believed it just because it was you. I know you don't support me for Minister, so something had to be done. Now we need to take a little trip, Mr. Potter."

Harry wanted desperately to shake his head or blink his eyes to clear the fog in his head, but didn't think he should. He took the meaning of that little dialog to signify that he should try to pretend to be blank. He pictured how Neville's mother had been. He imagined he needed to clear his mind somehow. 'Clear his mind'? Maybe Occlumency would help.

Umbridge came around the desk and grabbed his arm to start to push him to the fireplace. She threw floo powder in and said, "Knollbrook Warehouse". She pushed him roughly into the green flames and stood beside him for only a short moment when they landed in a large empty building. Harry made his usual graceful exit by falling flat on his face. He let himself fall and stayed on the ground, wondering what was going to come next. Harry wondered if he should just transform and flash away. He thought about the story that had been told of the former Minister. He wondered if she was going to put the Cruciatus curse on him. If he did transform, she would know he was an illegal animagus, but if she was going to curse him…

She was leaning over him. She pushed him onto his back. Harry kept his gaze blankly staring up at the ceiling. "Now where is your wand, hmmm?" She searched his pockets and when she didn't find anything, pushed up his right arm sleeve and found his empty wand holster. "Drat. Is that what you gave to Minerva? Well, that makes things a little more difficult." She seemed to like talking to herself. Harry remembered she did that the year before as well when she was talking herself into cursing him to find out where Dumbledore was. "If I can't use your wand to curse you and send the Dark Mark up into the air I'll just have to say that the Death Eaters must have been interrupted before they sent up their signal. Yes. That should work. I'll have to make sure none of the other Healers see you, though. I'll have to contact Blythefield to make sure he gets to you first."

Umbridge wandered back to the fireplace and made a floo call to Healer Blythefield. Harry still debated about transforming, but thought maybe he should follow this through. He would have to make sure his Occlumency shields were as high as he could get them and hope it was enough to fool this Blythefield person. If it wasn't, he was going to have to make a fast exit.

Umbridge finished her call and returned to Harry. "Well, Mr. Potter, this is good-bye. You have been a thorn in my side for over a year now. It was past time to pluck you out." She pulled an amulet out from around her neck and spoke into it. "Alert! Alert! There has been an attack! Send help immediately. Also send a Healer. Mr. Potter has been injured."

Instantly aurors and a Healer apparated to their location. Now Harry definitely wasn't going to change in front of all these people. He'd have to hope for the best. Kingsley Shacklebolt quickly made for Harry and leaned over him with deep concern in his face. Harry wished he could give him some sort of sign that he really was alright, but there was another stranger also leaning over him and ordering Kingsley away from his patient. Harry assumed he was the crooked Healer, Blythefield.

Blythefield started holding a wand over Harry. Harry pulled up the phoenix song and blanked his mind. He could feel the magic poking at his barrier, but it didn't penetrate. Blythefield started muttering words loud enough for his audience to hear. "Indications of multiple cruciatus curses. Too many for the mind to bear. Pity. I'll transport him to St. Mungo's immediately." He set something on Harry's chest and said some password and Harry took his second Portkey trip for the day.

* * *

Harry landed on a bed. That was the best Portkey landing he'd ever had. Harry shut the thoughts out of his mind again and concentrated on his Occlumency. The Healer returned to his side and started his probing again, a little harder this time. Harry's shield still held. "She must have given you quite a bit of the drug. There is absolutely nothing there right now."

He turned away and got some hospital robes for Harry to wear. He used his wand to remove Harry's clothes. The bladder of tea went with them. They folded themselves neatly and lodged on a low shelf of a nearby nightstand. The hospital robes formed themselves to fit Harry's frame. "Get used to your new robes. You'll be here for a long time."

The Healer turned away and walked across the room. "And how are you, Cornelius? We've brought you a new roommate." Fudge was watching with wide eyes. Harry thought that there was something still there, but it was frightening to see how empty his eyes looked. Fudge made a moaning noise. "Coming to again? Must be getting close to needing another dose." The Healer checked the chart on the end of the bed. "Yes. I'll go get it ready now."

The Healer left the room. Harry tentatively called out, "Minister? Can you understand me?" The only answer was another moan. Harry knew he wasn't going to be able to communicate with the Minister. He quietly got out of his bed and reached down for his robe. He pulled his communication mirror out of the pocket. He was glad it hadn't been taken away from him. He quickly got back into his bed and tried to smooth out his covers so it couldn't be seen that he had been out. He hid the mirror under his pillow and positioned himself how he had been sitting earlier.

About ten minutes later the Healer returned with the Minister's dose. Harry surreptitiously watched how the Minister reacted. Fudge didn't have the motor control to keep from drooling quite a bit out. Harry wondered if he was trying to fight swallowing it or if it was just a physical reaction he couldn't help. Eventually the Healer pulled the vial away and cleaned him up with a _scourgify_. Harry saw that now there seemed to be no spark of intelligence in his eyes.

"I think that's enough to last a few days. Your doses are getting closer together. I'll have to make a note to myself to get more poison from our new Minister. I'll let Healer-in-Training Bosworth in now to take care of any physical needs." Harry's ears perked up. He recognized that name as one Neville had said was very helpful to his parents and thought she could be trusted. Harry hoped she could be trusted with the secret that he wasn't crazy. The Healer left and Harry heard locks click in the door.

Harry didn't dare try to contact Remus when he knew someone would be coming in soon. He would just have to be patient. He heard the locks click open and Healer Blythefield opened the door for a petite young woman with strawberry blonde hair. He closed and locked the door after her. The young woman went to the Minister's side first and Harry heard the spell Madam Pomfrey used when her patients were unconscious to remove bodily waste. She also performed a shaving charm and a cleansing charm. When she was finished, she turned towards Harry.

Harry cast a wandless silencing charm on the room. He turned towards the young witch. She screamed.

"That's why I just put a silencing charm up. Can you calm down, please?"

"You…you're awake! I need to get the Healer! This is amazing!" The witch turned to run to the door.

"Wait! Just hear me out, please!" She slowly turned back to him, confusion in her eyes. "He's in cahoots with Madam Umbridge. She did something to my tea and I pretended to drink it. Then I acted like I lost my mind because I had suspected that's what happened to Minister Fudge. I was right. That Healer just gave Fudge another dose of whatever it is which made him go catatonic again. He was becoming aware until then."

"Healer Blythefield? But he's worked here for years. He's one of the top Healers. He wouldn't condone something like that!" The witch seemed to be in shock, but wasn't running for the door anymore.

"I don't know why he's helping her. All I know is that Umbridge called for him to be on hand when she arranged the scene for me to be found. He pretended that I had multiple cruciatus damage to my brain. I haven't been hit with that at all today."

The witch took out her wand and ran a scan over Harry. "No…you haven't. You say he reported you had?"

"Yes. He made everybody leave me and then had me transported directly to this room before anyone else could find out differently."

"But that just doesn't make sense. That's not the correct protocol."

"Look, Neville Longbottom thinks you can be trusted. Can I trust you to keep my sanity a secret?" Harry hoped he could.

"I'll keep it secret for now…until I find out more. I'll check to see what report is filed on you and see if you're telling the truth. If you're not, I'll contact Healer Blythefield about this story. Maybe he would know why you're having these delusions." She obviously still didn't believe him, but Harry was glad she would keep quiet for now.

"When can you come back?"

"Only Healer Blythefield has access to this room. It is top security clearance only and he has final say-so on who can enter. Minister Fudge's family hasn't even been allowed to visit." This last bit was said with some disapproval. "But he doesn't like the day to day caring of the patients so I'll be allowed back in two hours at mealtime. I hope you like porridge."

"Porridge will be fine. I'll see you then."

"Oh…I'll have to…ah…" She gestured towards Harry's lower half with an abstract wave of her hand. Harry understood. She had to perform her spells. He blushed.

"Okay. Do what you have to do." He hated this.

After performing her spells, Harry removed the silencing charm and the Healer-in-Training walked back to the door and placed her hand on a pad near the door. "I have to wait for him to let me out." she explained.

* * *

After Healer-in-Training Bosworth left Harry reached under his pillow and pulled out his mirror. "Remus Lupin".

"Harry? Are you okay? Where are you?"

"Shhh. You have to keep quiet. I'm in St. Mungo's. Some high security room with Minister Fudge. I'm fine, but I can't let the Healer know, because he's in with Umbridge. They tried to poison me somehow with some kind of mind drug. That's what happened to Fudge, too."

"Harry, everyone's been frantic. They wouldn't even tell Dumbledore where you were. Umbridge tried telling everyone that you insisted on holding your meeting at some restaurant and were attacked by Death Eaters. Of course, we didn't believe her, but what could we do? Her wand was tested and there were no dark curses cast from it. Were you attacked?"

"No. She put something in my tea and tried to make me drink it. After I pretended to she brought me to some warehouse. She looked for my wand and was going to curse me with it, but I had given it to Professor McGonagall so she couldn't. She then called Healer Blythefield so he could be on hand when she raised an alarm. He pretended he saw signs of the cruciatus, but I hadn't been hit with it at all."

"Well, thank Merlin for that. I'll have to let Professor Dumbledore know right away. We can try to figure out how to get you out of there." Remus was sounding a little calmer now.

Harry asked, "What do you know about Healer-In-Training Bosworth? She knows I'm not insane. She's checking out the report before she says anything, though. I have some of the tea that Umbridge gave me. Would it be safe to give it to her for testing?"

"I don't know her myself. I'll ask Dumbledore right away. Should I call you when I find out?"

"No. Let me call you. I'm not sure how often the Healer comes in here. I don't want this discovered. Healer-In-Training Bosworth will be coming back in two hours. I call you in an hour and a half. All right?"

"Sounds good. I'll contact Professor Dumbledore right away."

"I told you Portkeys were bad."

Remus gave a tense burst of laughter. "So you did. Out."

Harry signed off, too.

* * *

The next hour and a half seemed to last an eternity. There was absolutely nothing to do. Catatonic people didn't need entertainment so there was none to be had. It was an utterly bland room with nothing of interest in it. Harry passed the time staring at his watch and practicing some wandless charms and hexes. Nothing noticeable and easily vanished if he should hear any sound at the door. Finally the time was up. He pulled out his mirror again and called Remus.

"Harry! I'm glad you called. I'm with the Headmaster now. I'll let you talk to him." Harry could see ceiling as Remus' face disappeared until the Headmaster's face filled the mirror.

"Harry, my boy, are you all right?" Dumbledore's face looked anxiously into the mirror.

Harry gave a half grin and said, "I'm fine. It's a bit boring here, but I'll be okay. Anything on Healer-In-Training Bosworth? Can we trust her?"

"I'm afraid we may have to. What can you tell me of what happened and your current situation? Remus told me what you reported to him. Is there anything more you can add? Do you think this young Healer would help you escape?"

"I don't think she could. Healer Blythefield is the only one who has access to this room. Bosworth said that not even Fudge's family was allowed to visit him. She's only allowed in to take care of basic needs." Harry rolled his eyes at this and thought he heard Remus snicker in the background. "Fudge had seemed to be coming around until Blythefield made him take another dose of something. Then Fudge sort of blanked out. Apparently he gets a dose every few days. They figure I've had mine already so I _should_ be safe for a while." Harry brightened. "I used Occlumency to keep him out of my mind. That's why he thinks I'm brain dead!"

Professor Dumbledore finally smiled at Harry's pride. "That's very good, Harry. But be careful. You wouldn't want him to really make you take whatever that potion is. We will work on finding some way to get you out of there."

"That'd be fine, but if I do have to escape somehow, it'd be best if you were all very visible. You know Umbridge would try to blame it on you. I'd probably have to take Fudge with me, too. I can't leave him here. I think his mind would come back if he was off the potions long enough." Harry was trying to plan ahead.

The Headmaster's eyes started to twinkle. "Do you have a plan already?"

"Not a plan, no, but there's not much to do here except think. I won't do anything unless I have to, but I want to have something in mind _if_ I have to. I'd better sign off. She should be coming soon." The Headmaster agreed and the mirror went blank.

Soon the door locks were opened and Healer-In-Training Bosworth entered the room. She seemed quite a bit more nervous than before. She was floating two dinner trays in front of her and jumped when the door closed behind her.

Harry cast another silencing charm wandlessly. The Healer jumped again. She floated the trays to the two bedside nightstands.

"You were right. They're reporting you were hit by numerous curses. Healer Blythefield must be part of some cover up. What are you going to do? You won't be able to keep up the charade forever. How are you going to get out of here?"

"Don't worry about that. It's been said that 'I'm good at escaping'. Hopefully that will continue to prove true. I need to ask you something."

She got very nervous. "I can't let you out of here."

Harry smiled. "I wasn't going to ask you to. I was wondering how good you are at discovering what's in a potion? Or do you know someone you trust who could? I have some of the tea that Umbridge tried to make me drink. Do you think you could find out what's in it? Maybe we could find a way to help Minister Fudge regain his mind."

She brightened. "That's my specialty. I'll be finished with my training in one more month, and then I hope to get a permanent job in the Research Department."

"Great! The tea is in the sleeve of my robe." The witch knelt down by Harry's clothes and searched through his robe. She found the bladder and held it up. Harry nodded. "That's it. If I have to make a break for it, I plan to take Fudge, too. I think he would recover somewhat if he wasn't always fed that potion. If you find anything that might help, let Neville Longbottom know. He would be able to contact me."

The witch's face showed surprise. "Timid Neville Longbottom?"

"He's a lot braver than you think. He's helped me out before."

The Healer slipped the bladder into a pocket of her robes. She toyed with it nervously and kept glancing at the door as if Healer Blythefield was going to come in at any moment. Finally she settled down enough to realize that time was passing and she hadn't started feeding them yet. Harry pointed out he could feed himself and she went to help Fudge swallow down some food.

The porridge was tasteless but filling and after Harry finished his she came back over. "Oh, dear. You ate it all. Patients never finish it all. I'll put some of the Minister's leftover's into your bowl." After arranging the two bowls to look like they both had scraps left, she placed her hand on the pad near the door again as a signal to be let out. Harry schooled his gaze to look blank again as she nervously glanced back at him. Soon the locks clicked open and she left the room.

* * *

Harry and Fudge were left alone for the night. In the early morning hours Harry started feeling a prickling in his scar. Voldemort's feelings were confused again. He was triumphant, but disappointed and angry. Harry imagined he was triumphant that Harry was out of the way, but disappointed that he didn't get to kill a sane Harry himself. He would also be angry that someone credited him and his Death Eaters again with something they didn't do, but something he would have wanted to do.

Trying to block those sensations kept Harry awake for quite a while in the night. That made Harry oversleep in the morning. He had a rude awakening as Healer Blythefield started probing his mind again. Harry jerked and tried to shove the probe from him mind. Too late he realized the Healer had seen him alert.

"You're coming out of it already. You either have a high tolerance or she didn't give you enough. I'll have to get a dose for you right away." Harry heard the Healer stride away from him and knew he had run out of time. As soon as the doors locked behind him, Harry jumped out of bed. He grabbed his mirror and called for Remus urgently.

"What's the matter, Harry?"

"My time's up. You and Dumbledore need to get visible. I think I can make it and I'll contact you later, but make sure you two can't be connected to my leaving. I've gotta go. Out."

Harry quickly dressed and turned into Flame. He flew to the Minister and grabbed hold of him with his talons. He hoped this worked. He never tried to flash with someone before, but he'd seen Fawkes do it.

He visualized Potter Place and concentrated. He felt a wave of fire trickle over him briefly and opened his eyes. He was sitting on Fudge in his Entrance Hall. He hopped off and turned back into himself.

He heard an exclamation of surprise from the portrait of his Grandparents. "You've become a magical animagus? That's terrific!" His grandfather was happy at least.

"What are you doing here? You should be in school!" His grandmother wasn't as easily impressed.

Tubow appeared. "Harry Potter, sir! I heard you were injured and in St. Mungo's." Harry's grandparents gasped.

"Long story. Minister Fudge needs a bed and to be taken care of. Would Tiz know how to do that?"

"She knows some, Master Harry. I will call her after I get him settled." With a snap of his fingers Tubow floated the Minister up the stairs to a spare bedroom. Harry had one more thing he wanted to do before he could relax.

"Winky?"

A loud crack was heard and Winky popped into the room. "Master Harry! Winky is so glad to see you! I's heard you was sick. People is being scared in your home. Winky is being scared, too." She started to sob.

Harry patted her. "I'm fine. I need you to do something for me. I need you to get my trunk from Hogwarts and bring it here. Can you do that for me without being seen?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir. Winky will be doing it right away." She snapped her fingers and popped away. After a few moments she returned. "I put Harry Potter's trunk in Masters bedroom here."

Harry smiled at her. "Thank you, Winky. That will help a lot."

She smiled back at him, then grabbed his waist in a hug. "Winky is so glad you is okay." Her eyes were leaking tears of happiness. She sniffed a few times then returned to Grimmauld Place.

Harry finally relaxed.

He sat in a chair opposite his grandparents picture and started to explain everything that happened. Eventually he was all talked out and decided to take a bath. One of the house elves he'd hired earlier, Fossa, popped to say he would get it ready for him. Harry made his way up to the master bedroom and got ready for a nice long bath. The bath was even nicer than the one in the trunk. He saw a Wizarding Wireless on the side and turned it on to hear the WWN. About half an hour into his bath he heard breaking news.

_Former Minister Fudge and Harry Potter have been kidnapped from St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. It is unclear how the kidnappers removed them from their high security room, but everyone is asked to be alert. Head Healer Blythefield reports that they may get periods of delusion with persecution complexes. If anyone sees any sign of our beloved Boy Who Lived and former Minister of Magic, they are requested to report directly to Interim Madam Minister Umbridge herself or Healer Blythefield immediately._

So he was a 'beloved delusional crazy person' this year. Well, the 'beloved' was a step up from last years 'delusional crazy person'. Harry got out of his bath and tried to think of what would be happening at Hogwarts right now. It was still morning. It was the beginning of Christmas Break. Students would be getting ready to leave for home. Harry decided to check to see if Ginny had gotten the message about his wand. He got dressed and headed for his trunk.

Harry climbed into the dimensional room and saw his wand lying on the counter. He smiled. He glanced up at Ginny's entrance and saw it was small. She must be packed for traveling. Harry left the trunk and called to the house elf Fossa.

"At some point, probably early tonight several people are going to want to see me inside this room in this trunk. Would you be able to listen for them and let me know when they arrive?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir."

"Good. Then I won't have to sit in there all day. Thanks."

Harry decided to check on how Fudge was doing. He went down the hall and found him just as he had been in the hospital room. Tiz was feeding him. Much of the food ended up on the front of his robes. When Harry walked in, Tiz jumped and the bowl landed with a crash on the floor. "Tiz is so sorry, Harry Potter, sir. Tiz will clean it up!"

"Calm down, Tiz. I'm sorry for startling you." She jumped again when she heard her master apologize to her. "I'm glad to see you're taking care of our guest. We can always get more porridge. Is there any taste to this one? There wasn't last night at the hospital." Harry grinned at her. She started to relax as she realized she wasn't going to lose her place.

"Kreelo is adding a bit of brown sugar to it." She snapped her fingers and a second bowl appeared. Tiz looked a little shamefacedly at Harry. "Kreelo always makes second bowls just in case Tiz spills."

"Smart thinking. Nothing wrong with having a back up plan. I think I'll go get something for my breakfast, too."

"Harry Potter should go to Breakfast Room just up the hall. Kreelo is ready to serve Harry Potter, sir." Tiz gestured out the room and started to shoo Harry out.

Harry laughed and allowed her to bully him away. He meandered up the hall to find the Breakfast Room. It had been several months since he had been here and it looked a lot different than he remembered. Everything was clean. He had never used the Breakfast Room for its intended purpose before and curious as to how it would feel.

When he entered, Kreelo popped in and said he had a selection of eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage and toast. There were carafes of pumpkin juice, orange juice and water on the table. He wondered if Harry wanted anything else. Harry said everything looked great and sat down to eat.

Tubow appeared next to him with a selection of newspapers and even a Quidditch magazine. Harry picked up the Daily Prophet. The news of Harry's escape was too new to have made the headlines yet. Harry just idly flipped through the other articles. He decided to contact Remus again.

He wasn't sure where Remus would be so he softly called, "Remus Lupin."

He heard Remus' voice through his mirror talking with some people. "…Harry Potter. I do not know where is. I hope he stays safe, but while you are all holding me here, I can't help look for him. I wish I could talk to him, but I guess it's just not a good time now."

Harry got the hint. "Out." He would have to wait for Remus to contact him.

* * *

Harry spent most of the day reacquainting himself with this property. There were three new house elves to go through the ritual with. He spent a couple hours chatting with Gilly. The old house elf had a wealth of stories of the Potter's who had lived here before. Harry also spent some time flying out over the cliffs in the cold winter air. He imagined Ginny's reaction to the sounds of the sea that drifted up from the rocks below.

A little after lunch Harry was notified by Fossa that there was someone in the trunk. Harry hurried to his room and looked down. Ron and Hermione were down there. Harry grinned. "Ron! Hermione! Great to see you. I didn't expect to see anyone until tonight, if then."

Hermione gave him a hug as he got off his ladder. "We couldn't wait. We had to know you were all right. It's just been crazy."

"Yeah, mate. This is the first chance we've been able to keep people away from the compartment long enough to open the trunk. Ginny, Luna and Neville are standing guard up top. Glad you don't seem to be a nutter like the Aurors made out. Were you really attacked by Death Eaters right in front of Umbridge?"

"No. I was attacked by Umbridge right in front of Umbridge. She also has a Healer making sure people stay attacked working for her at St. Mungo's. I had to take Fudge out, too. Hey! I need to talk Neville. Could you send him down?"

"Sure, Harry. I'll go get him. I'll see you later, huh?" Ron turned after Harry's nod and went to find Neville.

"I wish I wasn't going to my parents first thing. Who's going to keep you out of trouble?" Hermione looked worried.

"Enjoy your parents. I'll be fine. And I don't get into trouble on purpose!"

Hermione looked at him in disbelief. "Kidnapping the Minister of Magic isn't getting into trouble on purpose?"

"They would have been after me either way, right? Besides, I couldn't leave him there to keep getting re-poisoned. I think we'll be safe enough for now. I'm just hoping he gets better quickly so he can stop all of this. I'm not sure I can this time."

"I'll be at the Weasley's with my parents in another week. Hang on until then alright?" Hermione looked at Harry seriously.

"I will, Hermione. I promise." Harry looked up as he heard the lid open up again. Neville started climbing down.

"Hey, Neville! I've got to ask you to do something for me."

Neville reached the bottom and turned. "Anything."

"Before I left I managed to give the poisoned tea I hid to Healer-In-Training Bosworth. She was going to try to figure out what was in it. I told her if she finds anything, or figures out anything to help Minister Fudge to let you know. So when you visit your parents, could you keep a look out for her? If she does find anything, somehow get it to Ron and Ginny. They'll be able to get it to me. Don't trust the owl post. It's being watched again."

Neville straightened up. "I will." He paused, then said, "We'd better be getting back up there. Don't want anyone to find out about this." He paused a bit longer. "I'm glad I won't need to be visiting you, too, Harry."

Harry clapped a hand on Neville's shoulder and said with meaning, "Me too, Neville. Me too."

* * *

The next few days passed quickly. Harry spent some time with Ginny and Ron in the trunk. They told him that Dumbledore and Remus were being watched very closely and even the Burrow was being watched from afar. There were many rumors about how Harry and Minister Fudge had escaped. One was that the Healer in Charge had left the door unlocked and Harry and Fudge had just wandered out. Other rumors stated that they had been kidnapped by Death Eaters.

Harry found himself spending more and more time sitting in with the Minister. He had some books from the library to help pass the time, but he was becoming concerned.

On Tuesday, the Minister started moaning. His eyes were more aware, but he seemed to almost be in pain. Tiz didn't have any idea what might be wrong with him. It got progressively worse during the day. His eyes seemed to be pleading for something. Harry didn't know what. Eventually in desperation he changed into Flame and started to croon a phoenix song. It seemed to help a bit and the Minister fell back into a restless sleep.

Harry finally stopped and changed back to himself. As he stared worriedly at the restless Minister he felt a small tug on his robes near his waist. He looked down to see a small house elf. Fossa whispered that there were people in the trunk looking for him. Harry nodded and they quietly left the room.

He made his way to his trunk and climbed down. He was surprised to see not only Ron and Ginny, but Neville there as well. Neville was pacing back and forth agitatedly.

"Hi, Harry. I went to St. Mungo's today and saw Healer-In-Training Bosworth. She passed on a message that she found the stuff in the tea to be highly addictive. She's afraid that if the Minister is already on doses given every few days that he will have built up such a need that he could go into shock if he doesn't get proper treatment."

Harry was flabbergasted. "You mean that my taking him away from them…could kill him?" He threw up his hands and turned away from them. He started talking in a disgusted tone. "I did it again. Me and my 'saving people thing'! I try to do the right thing and it's killing him!"

Ginny reached forward and put a hand on his back. "No! You did the right thing. You couldn't know…"

Harry whirled around. "Yes. I couldn't know. I just tried to mess with people's lives again and it's hurting him. He's starting to come out of it and he's in pain. It just started today. Tiz doesn't know what to do and I sure don't. I'll have to bring him back to St. Mungo's…"

"You can't!" Neville broke in with a strong voice. Harry looked up at him in surprise. Neville continued. "You can't bring him to St. Mungo's. He'd fall right back into Healer Blythefield's hands. _They_ were killing him, Harry. Healer Bosworth said that the poison would have eventually built up to such a level that it would start shutting down his other organs as well as his mind. Healer Bosworth has come up with a bit of a detoxifying solution based on the rest of the tea but couldn't get it to me today. She said if I came back tomorrow she would meet me near the cafeteria and give it to me. The only problem is I don't usually go two days in a row and everyone is being watched. It will look suspicious if I meet with her again that soon."

"You won't have to meet her. Tell me exactly where you were to meet and what time. Is the cafeteria on the fifth floor?" Harry tried to remember the walk up from Mr. Weasley's ward the previous Christmas.

Neville looked horrified. "You can't go. You'd get caught!"

"I won't be…_me_." Harry looked at Ron and Ginny silently asking what they thought about him sharing their secret plans. He received small nods in return. He focused back on Neville. "One of the reasons I've had us studying wandless and wordless magic is so I could become an animagus."

Neville didn't say anything for a moment but his eyes grew wide. Finally he stuttered out, "Wh...what are you?"

Harry closed his eyes and changed into Flame. He looked up and saw Neville turn extremely pale. He sang a few notes of phoenix song and took a short flight around the trunk. Neville seemed to have calmed somewhat and Harry landed and changed back to himself. "That's how I got out of St. Mungo's. No one else besides Hermione and us in here knows about this. If you're interested, you could probably become one yourself. We would help you."

Neville looked at Ginny and Ron. "You are animagi, too?"

Ginny answered. "Not yet, but we're working on it. Hopefully sometime soon after Christmas."

Neville thought for a moment. "No offense, but that really doesn't appeal to me to turn myself into some animal. Isn't it painful?"

Harry grimaced. "The first time is really bad but after that it's okay."

Neville just kind of made a squeamish shrug. "I'll pass. I think it's really cool for you, but I think I'll pass."

After that they got down to figuring out where Harry was to meet the Healer. Neville even went so far as to draw a map for Harry. Then they got together on what kind of note Flame would deliver to Healer-In-Training Bosworth.

* * *

The next morning at 10:30 a.m. Harry flashed to St. Mungo's with a note carried in his talon. He went directly to where Neville said to meet the Healer. She was there pacing nervously in a cloakroom off the main dining area. He was just about to fly out of the dark corner he'd appeared in when he paused for a moment. Someone was coming up behind her. Healer Blythefield put a hand on her shoulder and spun her around.

"Convenient out-of-the-way place here. Are you waiting for something? What is that you have in your pocket?"

The young witch looked petrified. She put a hand protectively over her robe pocket. The older Healer continued. "I just happened to go through the Research Lab today and found some interesting items in there. I saw some notes on a strange poison and detoxifier. They were notes you had made. May I ask what your interest is in that subject?" His voice was a threatening growl and his wand was out and pointed at her.

Harry decided to act. He silently flew towards Blythefield low to the ground and when he reached him swerved so he was flying straight up. He knocked his wand away and tipped the man off balance by flying straight into his face. The wizard never even saw him coming or got a clear look at what he was. As soon as he hit the ground Harry whirled in mid-air and presented tail feathers for the terrified young trainee to grab on to. In her panic she did almost automatically. Harry flashed them away in an instant.

They reappeared inside the Minister's bedroom. The Minister was tossing back and forth fitfully and moaning loudly. The Healer-in-training was still standing there in shock. Harry had to calm them both down. He started his phoenix song. After a couple of minutes the Minister had finally relaxed again for a short while. When Harry stopped, the Healer snapped out of her daze and finally took a look around and noticed the Minister. She instantly had her wand out and hovered it over him, taking in his condition. She frowned and pulled the detoxifier mixture out of her pocket. She gave the small dose to the Minister and he seemed to sigh and relax on the bed. His eyes seemed to go unfocused but didn't go blank and the pain seemed to lessen.

Harry flew out into the hallway and turned back into himself. He picked up the note from the floor and shoved it into his pocket. He re-entered the room. The Healer looked up.

"Mister Potter! I'm glad Neville was able to get a message to you. Is Neville here?" She paused and looked around. "Where exactly are we?"

"Neville's not here, but he was able to contact me last night. This is where I've been hiding." Harry paused and bit his lip. He wasn't sure how to say this next part. "It might be a good idea for you to stay here too for a while until we can get this cleared up."

Healer Bosworth looked stunned for a moment until acceptance slowly entered her face. "I suppose you are right. He wasn't about to let me just leave. I suppose that bird save my life, or at least my sanity. I'll have to remember to thank Professor Dumbledore."

Harry was confused why she was going to thank Professor Dumbledore, but let it go. He nodded towards Fudge. "Will he get better now?"

The young witch immediately frowned. "I'm afraid that was only a temporary measure. We've bought ourselves some time. He's going to need another dose." She suddenly had a horrified look on her face. "Now I definitely can't make any more! I don't have access to the lab."

"Do you remember what was in it?" Harry was concerned. He didn't want the Minister dying. He started to lead her out of the bedroom over to the breakfast room.

"Oh yes. In fact I made a copy of the potion recipe to keep with the detoxifier for you." She sat down at the table. A brunch appeared on it and she idly picked up a roll and started to eat it.

"Then maybe we can create it here. Tubow?" Harry called for his head house elf.

"Harry Potter, sir. What can Tubow be doing for you?"

"Do you know of any Potions Lab or other room that could be used for that here?"

"There is a reinforced room in the tunnels under the house. There is plenty of ventilation and light."

"Tunnels?"

"Oh yes, Harry Potter. There are some tunnels that lead all the way down to the shore. Even an underground dock. There is no boat, however, that we have found yet."

"Oh. Well, we can see if that would work out as a laboratory."

The witch looked slightly confused. "What is this place? I was assuming it belonged to you somehow, but you don't seem very familiar with it."

"It is mine. I just found it this past summer, but I've never lived here before now. That's why I don't know much about it. Fortunately, no one else seems to remember it belongs to me either. That and it's got a few safeguards against being found. Apparently my relatives were private people." Harry stood up and so did the young Healer.

"Let me check on Minister Fudge again before we go. I want to make sure he is still sleeping." They headed back up the hallway and peeked into the room. The Minister seemed to be sleeping comfortably for the first time in over twenty-four hours. "I don't suppose you have a monitoring device here?"

"No, but Tiz was watching him for me earlier. Tiz?" The small house elf appeared near him. "Could you watch over the Minister again for a little bit while we check out a possible potions room? If there is any trouble could you find Healer-In-Training Bosworth?"

"You can call me Justina." The Healer broke in.

Harry looked at her and smiled. "And I'm Harry."

Justina blushed. "I know. I was in my fifth year at Hogwarts when you started. I was in Ravenclaw."

Tiz looked between the two. "Tiz can do that Harry Potter, sir."

"Great. Thanks, Tiz. Shall we go?"

Tubow led the way downstairs to the Games/Weapons room. There was a decorative door which he opened to a descending staircase. As they entered, torches lit along the wall. They had to descend quite a ways before they reached a landing and another door. Tubow opened it and stepped inside.

As the torches flared to life inside the room, Harry saw it seemed to be a large empty room. There were wide stone tables built into the wall. There were built in cupboards along another wall. Harry walked over and opened one up. It was empty. The walls, ceiling and floor were all stone. It was a little cool. It reminded Harry of the dungeons at Hogwarts.

Harry turned to Justina. "Do you think this will do? What all do you need?"

She also was looking around curiously, poking through empty cupboards. "This should be fine. There's plenty of light. I can feel there is air movement. Now all we need are the ingredients and everything would be all right." She pulled the list out of her pocket.

Harry leaned over her shoulder to read what was on the list.

_A bronze cauldron_

_A bezoar_

_phoenix tears_

_dried nettles_

_stewed horned slugs_

_diluted Bundimun secretion_

_mystery poison._

The instructions on how to brew it were listed below. There wouldn't be any problem buying any of this stuff. He thought he still had supply catalogs at Grimmauld Place. Harry took a moment to call for Winky. She came and he asked her to bring his mail order catalogs to Potter Place. She returned within a minute with them.

Harry found the one for the apothecary. He went to an order form and started to fill it out with Justina's help. When he came to the last item, he paused. "What do you mean 'mystery poison'?"

"I mean that I could tell that the poison used was an amphibian poison, but I don't know which one. I could make the detoxifier using the remains of the tea which had the poison in it. But to make more, we need to obtain more poison. We shouldn't need much, and as time goes by it should dwindle to none, but we do need to find some or all this is wasted and the Minister could go into shock."

Harry reached up and dug his fingers into his hair. How in the world were they supposed find some unknown poison? "Let's just get this other stuff ordered and started and hopefully we can come up with a solution when it's time."

After they placed the order for supplies, Harry led her back to Fudge's room. Justina had thought they could save some money by having the phoenix come and fill a vial with tears. Harry vetoed that idea and said they could just buy some. When she was satisfied with how the Minister was sleeping Harry offered to show her around. Even with hardly anybody there except the house elves, the place was pretty impressive, especially with the furniture cleaned and covers removed. He also let her pick out a bedroom of her choice. Unsurprisingly she chose one near her patient.

* * *

Thursday and Friday Harry spent trying to research what kind of amphibian's had poisons that affected the mind. He even ordered some books from Flourish and Blotts. He wasn't finding anything native to England so he figured he would have to look at foreign amphibians. He wandered through his library and looked at all the books he thought might be even remotely related, but so far nothing was helpful.

Ron and Ginny were trying to help as much as they could, but their resources were limited. They were being watched more by their mother as well and couldn't spend time with him like they had in the summer. Harry was glad to hear that Hermione would arrive Saturday morning. If anyone could pull off a miracle, it would be her.

Saturday came with clear skies. The night before heavy snow had fallen, but now the sun was shining on a crisp new layer of snow. Harry was pacing back and forth anxiously in the trunk. Fossa had told him that he would tell Harry when they came but Harry couldn't settle to anything anyway and said he would wait for them himself. Finally, the door opened from Ginny's room. His three friends came down the ladder. Hermione ran and gave Harry a hug.

"Finally. I see that you've survived so far. What's been happening? I've been hearing nothing in the muggle world."

Ron said, "Hey, mate, we've finally got some time to spend with you. Hermione's parents and ours are planning on a nice long 'get-to-know-you' talk and said we had time to catch up with each other. So can you finally show us where you're hiding out?"

Hermione and Ginny added their persuasion to the request and Harry agreed. "I'll show you my Grandparents place, but then we've got to sit down and figure out our problem. We're running out of time." Hermione looked questioningly, but Ginny and Ron nodded.

Harry led them up his stairs. He had already added them to the approved visitors list so they had no problem exiting his trunk. Just seeing the Master bedroom gave them warning of what the rest of the house was like.

Ron kept saying, "You could have grown up _here_?"

Harry gave a short laugh. "Yeah. Quite a difference from how I lived with the Dursley's."

Harry led them past the bedrooms. He let them look in the unoccupied rooms briefly. He pointed out where the Minister was staying as well as Justina. Hermione and Ginny both raised eyebrows at the use of the first name, but Harry explained that Healer-In-Training Bosworth was just too much of a mouthful to keep saying over and over. They seemed to see the sense in that.

As they approached the third floor balcony that was open to the entryway, Harry made Ginny stop. "Close your eyes." He had a devilish grin on his face. She gave him a suspicious look. "Go on. Close your eyes. I have something to show you and I want you to get the full effect."

Ginny gave him one more look, but then closed her eyes. Harry took her hand and led her and the others to the third floor balcony that formed the pathway between each side of the third floor. The view from the balcony was just as impressive as from the front doors. Hermione gave a gasp when she saw the view of the cliffs and sea out of the windows. Ron got a grin and turned to watch Ginny's reaction, too. He knew of Ginny's love of the sea.

Finally Harry had her positioned right in the middle and turned towards the windows. "Okay. Open your eyes."

Ginny's eyes opened and then they opened wider. She moved right to the railing as if drawn by the view. "This is marvelous! Is it enchanted?"

"No. That's what it really looks like outside. There's even some tunnels leading down to the water. I haven't been down there yet, so I'm not sure what it looks like down there."

It took a while, but eventually they dragged Ginny away from the view. They proceeded on their tour going down a floor. They almost lost Hermione in the Library, then another floor down Ron had trouble leaving the Game/Weapons Room. Harry showed the entrance to the tunnel. On each floor, Ginny was always captivated by the wall of windows. Harry finally gave a brief introduction to his grandparents' portrait and then led them back up the stairs to the breakfast area on the bedroom floor. Scones and various fruits appeared on the table.

They seated themselves around the table and Ron, of course, reached for a scone and started spreading marmalade on it. Harry briefly gave a history of what happened while Hermione was home and ended with the mystery poison they needed to find. Hermione frowned.

Ginny asked, "Do you think you could do your flash thing back to St. Mungo's and steal some from Healer Blythefield?"

Hermione nixed that idea right away. "He shouldn't go out, even as Flame. People are looking for him and we're not sure how much Healer Blythefield saw when he brought Justina Bosworth here."

Harry shook his head. "I'm not sure he has any left, anyway. He had said he needed to get more from Umbridge."

Hermione's attention was caught. "From Umbridge?"

"Yeah. He said he was running low and needed to get more from her." Harry gave a snort of laughter. "You should have seen her. She was dressed in this awful orange thing and had matching accessories in her office."

"Matching accessories?"

"Yeah. She had this terrarium that had these orange toads that matched her exactly…." Harry trailed off as realization hit them all.

"That must be your mystery poison source. Maybe. Do you think you could find their picture in a book to tell what type they were?"

Harry frowned and thought back. He'd been looking at all types of books, but couldn't recall ever seeing orange toads. He was sure he would have remembered them. "I haven't seen them in any book I've looked through in the past couple of days. I would remember that shade of orange. It was awful."

Ron piped up. "So how are we going to steal a toad from the Minister's office? If we don't think it's a good idea for Harry to be seen at St. Mungo's it's surely not a good idea for him to go right to Umbridge!"

They sat in silence for a minute until Ginny softly offered, "Percy."

The others all turned to her in astonishment. Ron scowled. "Percy? That git? You think he'd do anything for us?"

Ginny defended her choice. "He did warn us about the owls and he did try to protect Harry at the Ministry. It just didn't work."

Ron shook his head, but Hermione seemed to think it over. "Ginny's got a point. The least we could do is try to see if he would help. He does think a lot of Fudge. Maybe he would help just because of him. What do you think Harry? This mostly affects you."

"I think he's probably our best hope. Ginny, Ron, do you think you could invite him to the Burrow to talk? We'll use the trunks to bring him here to see Fudge. Fudge will be starting withdrawal again soon. Maybe that will bring home how urgently we need his help."


	12. Christmas Eve

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett. Any guesses on the movie?

Chapter 12 Christmas Eve

Ginny wrote out a letter to Percy asking him to come to the Burrow. They figured that even if the owl were intercepted, it wouldn't be that unusual for a family member to want to see another. Ron reluctantly added his signature.

"Are you sure about this Harry? You'd be trusting him with information about how to contact you. He'll know that we know."

Harry looked seriously at Ron. "I'd be trusting him with a whole lot more than that and he'd be trusting me. If he's willing to do this, willing to steal a toad from the Minister, do you think he'd be able to go back to work afterwards, or even to his home? He'd have to stay here, too."

"I hadn't thought about that. Do you reckon that he would even try then? He's not been too fond of you, ya know."

Harry had to laugh. Ron had a way of pointing things out that was so understated sometimes. "I know. But we have to ask."

Ginny went and got Pig to send the message to Percy. When she returned they all sat around a table to plot how they were going to approach him. They decided when Percy came, they would bring him to Ginny's room and Harry would talk to him there. They would feel him about a little before showing the secret of their trunks and Harry wanted to stay near the exit in case anyone should approach the Burrow from the Ministry.

At noon, Harry's friends decided they'd better return to the Burrow and show up for the noon meal. They told Harry that one of them would come down to the trunk to let Harry know when to come.

* * *

Harry added Percy to the recognition list for people allowed to enter his home then Harry spent the rest of the day in the Library looking for the toad he'd seen in Umbridge's office. He could find no trace of any orange toads like he saw. He was getting frustrated. He spent some time with Justina explaining that they thought they might have a lead on the amphibian used for the poison and were working on a way to acquire one. She just hoped it would be soon.

Sunday morning came and finally Fossa came to tell Harry his presence was requested in the trunk. Harry quickly made his way down and then followed Hermione back up to the Weasley side. It felt strange coming into Ginny's bedroom. He'd never been in Ginny's room before. There was a second bed added which Harry assumed Hermione was using. As there were no chairs to sit on he sat on the closed trunk. It didn't feel right to sit on one of their beds. Hermione sat on one, though. Harry kept shooting nervous glances at the window. He hoped no one out there had a magical eye like Moody's. If they did, he would be in trouble.

Hermione also seemed tense. They would occasionally make eye contact but made no conversation. Finally they heard footsteps approaching the bedroom.

"Harry, maybe you'd better cast a wandless silencing charm as soon as he's in. You might want to stay out of sight until it's done."

Harry thought that was probably a good idea and got up to stand on the blind side of the door. The door opened and Ginny came in pulling Percy behind her with Ron pushing from the rear. Harry cast the charm and the door closed.

"Hello, Percy." Percy whirled around. His expression showed relief, then panic, and finally anger.

"Harry! What are you doing here? Do you know that they're watching this place? If you're hiding here, you're putting my whole family in danger. What are you thinking and what are they thinking to let you?"

Percy's face started to flush red, but Ron's got redder. "Now just a minute!"

"It's okay, Ron. Percy I'm not staying here. I'm only here to talk to you for a very short time. I'm not any happier to be here than you are to see me here under these circumstances. So calm down! Oh, and thank you for trying to warn me. It saved my life, or at least my sanity."

"So what's happening? Why did you want to talk to me?" Percy had calmed down, but he still was suspicious.

"As you suspected the Minister, Cornelius Fudge had been poisoned. Umbridge tried to poison me, too, but I was able to fake it and get both of us away. I've been taking care of him with some help. The problem was that they had been poisoning him for so long that he goes through withdrawal and without the detoxifying potion could go into shock and die. Now the potion could be made last week with the remains of the poisoned tea I had hidden, but now that's gone and without the diluted poison the detoxifying potion is no good. We need to get more poison. That's where you come in."

"It was in the tea? I almost poured you poisoned tea?" Percy had gone pale.

"Yeah. Luckily she's not very creative. She had tried to spike my tea last year so I already suspected that was how she'd do it again. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that we need more of the poison or the Minister could die. Our best plan to acquire it needs your help. We need a toad from her office. Are you willing to help?"

"Of course I want to help the Minister, but I can't steal from Madam Umbridge!"

Ginny softly suggested, "Maybe he should see the Minister now."

Harry nodded and Ginny opened the trunk. She climbed down first, then Harry, Percy, Ron and Hermione. Percy barely looked around and didn't ask any questions. Ginny then led the way to Harry's bedroom. She sat on his bed while waiting for everyone to get out of the trunk. Harry just shook head and marveled at how different she was from him. She just made herself right at home.

Harry led the way down the hall to the Minister's room. He gave a soft knock at the door. Justina came and let them in. "He's getting restless again. The withdrawal symptoms are starting to increase. Percy Weasley! I didn't expect to see you here!"

"Justina Bosworth? I haven't seen you since we left Hogwarts. Why are you here?" Percy seemed quite interested in Justina. Ginny raised her eyebrows at Harry in silent comment. Harry shrugged back.

"I am a Healer-in-Training at St. Mungo's. I worked in the Long Term Care ward and helped care for the Minister and Harry."

"You gave them their medications?" Percy seemed to be appalled at the idea. Harry was glad for that.

"Oh, no. Healer Blythefield was the only one allowed access for that. I took care of more personal needs, like eating and…things."

Percy glanced at Harry and Harry knew he was blushing again. Ron sniggered. Hermione elbowed him. Ginny's eyes were laughing as she tried to hold her laughter in.

"You could have knocked me over with a flobberworm when Harry up and started talking like a sane person. Then he gave me the poisoned tea and asked if I could figure out what was in it so we could try to help Minister Fudge. Then he was discovered and had to make a run for it with the Minister. When I found that the poison was highly addictive I was able to get word to Harry and made arrangements to pass on the detoxifier potion. Unfortunately I also was discovered and was brought here. I've been here ever since and probably will be until we can get the Minister well enough to testify against Madam Umbridge."

"Can't Harry testify?"

Harry spoke, "They're calling me delusional with a persecution complex. Do you think I'd be believed by myself?" Percy looked uncomfortable, as he was one who helped promote last year's reports of him being delusional.

Minister Fudge moaned from the bed. Justina went to his side to give what limited relief she could. Percy looked at his bedridden former idol. He seemed surprised and somewhat shocked at the condition Fudge was in. He spoke softly, "I tried to warn him, you know. I could tell Umbridge was unstable. I told him she needed help. He refused to listen."

Harry softly responded, "I know something about him refusing to listen. He's very stubborn."

Percy looked sadly at Harry. "You were telling the truth all along, weren't you." It was a statement. Not a question.

"Yes. But only Dumbledore and a few others believed me because the Minister didn't want to believe it himself. I love your family and I would do anything for them. They believed me when most of the wizarding world didn't. And because they believed the truth they took a stand to try to stop what was coming, even when the Ministry refused to do so. Do you still think they were wrong?"

Percy looked over at the stubborn Minister who refused to listen to him and so suffered the consequences. Harry could see the realization hit Percy of how much bigger the Minister's refusal to believe in You-Know-Who's return was.

He closed his eyes in pain and said, "They weren't wrong. I was."

After a moment Hermione started to tug on their arms to get them to leave the room and allow Justina privacy to work with the Minister. She led them to the little breakfast area and they took seats around the table. Once again the table filled with scones and fresh fruit.

Percy poured himself a cup of tea and stared at it for a minute. Finally he asked, "So what exactly do you need me to do?"

Harry had thought that whole part of the conversation had gone right over his head. "Justina determined that it's an amphibian poison. We," He made a general sweeping motion to include himself and the others, "believe that the poison comes from the toads that Umbridge keeps in her office. We need to get one to finish the potion. We were wondering if you would be willing to steal one for us." Harry held his breath. This was the big moment. Would law-abiding, never-break-a-rule Percy be willing to go completely against it all to help them?

Ron broke in, "You have access to her office. You could get in and out with no problem. Then you could meet up with us and we could use the toad to heal the Minister and everything could be all right again."

Harry knew it wouldn't be that easy and apparently so did Percy. "You really want me to steal a toad from Umbridge?"

"Yes. But it's a little more complicated than that. They're poisonous somehow. We're not sure how yet, but you should wear dragonhide gloves when handling them and we'd need some type of container to safely keep them in." Harry paused. "I seem to remember there were several toads in there. I don't know if she would miss one or not. I think, to be safe, after you would get it you should plan on staying here until this is over. Would you be willing to?"

Percy snorted. "Willing to stay here? Or willing to do any of this?"

"Either one."

Percy closed his eyes. He slowly took a deep breath and let it go. "I'll do both. Madam Umbridge doesn't get there until 9:00. I'll go in at 8:00. You know they're watching the Burrow, don't you? They'll know when I leave today and they'll know when I come tomorrow."

Harry turned to Ginny. "Do you know if they follow you when you leave or do they only log who comes and goes?"

"I don't think they follow us, but I'm not positive."

Harry closed his eyes and rake a hand through his hair. "How about you leave today as normal, Percy, but Ginny will meet you tomorrow somewhere in Ottery St. Catchpole. I'll loan Ginny my cloak. Ginny, after you leave the house and get past the checkpoint, put it on to lose anyone who might be following you. Bring your trunk along and Percy can come straight here. I'll meet you down here and you can leave the cloak and walk back. They should never know what happened."

Percy had an odd look on his face. "Good plan. You know, I've always wondered what it must be like to be in on one of your adventures. It's rather strange. I hope everything goes well."

"So do I."

* * *

Harry had a lot of nervous energy to work off the next morning. He had eaten a quick breakfast and decided to wait in the trunk for Percy. The Minister's health was declining quickly. He needed the potion and soon. Harry took out the Spellseye and shot a few rounds to keep him distracted. He tried to see how quickly he could shoot ten in a row without a miss. With a wand he was at level 14 now; without a wand at level 10. It was just easier with a wand, but he was proud of how he was doing without. His level without was higher than Remus' level with a wand.

Finally the door opened at the top and Ginny's voice floated down. "Harry!" He went to stand underneath and looked up. Ginny grinned at him and threw his cloak down. Harry caught it and then Percy was coming down the ladder. He had a small pack on his back.

When he reached the bottom, Harry nodded to him. "Hey, Percy. Glad to see you. Shall we go? Justina's waiting."

As they were climbing up the ladder, Percy told Harry, "Remind me to ask about these trunks later." As they went out through the bedroom and down the flights of stairs, Percy added, "And the house." Harry just grinned at him.

Harry led him into the Game/Weapons room and to the door that led to the tunnels. Percy's eyes were wide the entire time. Now that he wasn't in such shock, what he was seeing was finally sinking in.

Justina was already in the their make-shift lab. She looked up when they arrived and smiled. "Were you able to get the specimen?"

Percy took the pack off his back and put it on an empty part of the worktable. He gently lifted out a glass case in which there was a blue toad. It was the exact match of his robes.

Harry was astonished. "It's blue now. It was orange when I was in her office! Are you sure it's the same toad?"

Percy nodded. "Yes. They change color to match whatever the 'owner' is wearing. When I took him he changed to blue."

"Well, no wonder I couldn't find a picture of him in any of the books. Most people wouldn't wear that awful shade of orange."

Justina was setting up some of the additional equipment she had asked Harry to order when she realized they might need to collect the poison from the source. She started a small fire and used some tongs to remove the toad from its glass case. She placed the toad in a rounded cup and placed a wire mesh over the top so it couldn't escape, but could breathe. She placed the rounded cup on a stand over the fire.

"Er…Justina, you know the toad is going to roast if you leave him there." Even as Harry watched, the toad started to sweat.

"I won't keep him there. We don't need a lot of his secretions so we won't hold him here long. In fact, that's most likely enough for now. You see, when the toad panics, it lets out the poisonous secretions from its body. At least that's how it works with most poisonous frogs. I was hoping it would be the same with this toad." She put dragonhide gloves on and removed the toad with the tongs and replaced it in the glass container. "Now I need to test how potent this is." She removed the rounded cup. She paused, then looked up and added, "Do either of you know how to care for this thing? We may need more later. We need to keep it healthy."

Percy shook his head and Harry had no clue. Harry thought for a minute. "I can send a note with one of the house elves to Neville. He has a toad. He can let me know some basics of how to care for it."

Percy seemed to want to stay and help Justina, so Harry left to head back up to write a note to Neville. After he'd written his request he called Tubow to him. Tubow came with a pop. Harry asked if he could find a house elf that had time and could bring his note to Neville Longbottom and then wait for a reply. Tubow gave a bow, took the note and then popped away.

Harry decided to check on how the potion brewing was going. He met Justina and Percy on their way back up. Justina was talking excitedly to Percy about the results of her testing and was carrying a dosage with her. She noticed Harry. "Harry! Without the tea interfering, I think the detoxifier solution will work much better. The results I received from my tests are very encouraging. I'm going to give the Minister his dose now. I think this could speed things up dramatically." Her voice dropped to a whisper, almost as if she didn't dare say it aloud, "And, I'm not sure, but there might be a link with this poison/detoxifier that could help some of my other long-term patients." Her voice got louder again. "Much more research would be needed of course, but just think…."

Harry followed them to the Minister's room. He was still in obvious pain and his body was beginning to twitch. Justina hurried to his side and administered the dosage. Instantly the Minister's body relaxed, but his eyes didn't immediately cloud over as they did before. They retained a spark of awareness.

His eyes roamed the room, briefly landing on the Healer and Harry before moving on to Percy. With his voice rough, he said, "Weasley,"

Percy stepped forward. "Yes, Minister?"

"You were right." That seemed to be all he could manage for now. His body was tired from fighting the pain and he surrendered to the sleep that beckoned him.

Justina was bubbling with joy. She tucked Fudge in and shooed Harry and Percy out of the room. They went down the hall to the breakfast area. She couldn't seem to hold it in anymore and reached over to hug Percy. Harry was amused to see Percy quite willingly return the hug.

Finally they broke apart. Justina gave a satisfied sigh and sank into a seat. Harry and Percy took seats as well. The table started to fill with different brunch foods and drinks. "I have no doubts he'll have a full recovery now. He actually spoke and was coherent! I was afraid they had caused permanent damage."

Harry hadn't known that part. If the Minister had permanent damage, what would that have done to Harry's credibility? He was actually relieved Justina hadn't shared that information before. Harry was feeling stressed enough throughout this Christmas Break. He guessed now that the first priority was taken care of he should find out what Percy's plans were.

"Percy? How are you feeling about this? Do you think it would be safe for you to go back or do you want to stay here with us for now until this can be cleared up?"

Percy looked at Justina with consideration. She smiled at him. "No one would really miss me out there, but I didn't bring any clothes with me."

"Clothes are no problem. There are tons of trunks full in the attics and the house elves can adjust them to fit." Harry didn't think it was true that Percy wouldn't be missed. If Mrs. Weasley found out he was missing she would lose it for sure. Harry bet she would love to know that Percy wasn't being such a prat anymore, especially as Christmas was only in two days time….

"Then I think I will stay if it is not a problem. As I was leaving this morning, I told Eric the Guard that I wasn't feeling well, which I wasn't as I'd just stolen a poisonous toad! Maybe I could get a message sent with Hermes that I'm taking the next week off. That way if I'm not suspected it wouldn't make it suspicious that I'm suddenly not showing up. There are not many who work over the Christmas holidays anyway."

Just then a house elf popped into the room. With a snap of his fingers a large glass terrarium filled with books and supplies appeared at his feet. Harry didn't remember this one's name.

"Thank you very much for bringing this. What is your name again?"

"Grissom, Mast…Harry Potter, sir."

Now Harry remembered. This was one of the three he just initiated. "That's right. You help Gilly and Terran outdoors, right? How's it going?"

The house elf looked startled. "It be going good, Mas…sir. Mostly I's helps Terran in the Greenhouses until the snows leaves. Gilly's being suspicious of help yet, but I's ready when he's wanting some."

"Good. Gilly comes first."

"Yes, sir. Grissom listens for Gilly's call."

Harry smiled at him. "Would you be able to do one more thing for me?"

Grissom looked at Harry strangely. "Of course, Mas…sir."

Harry asked him to make himself available to Percy for delivering a note for Hermes to take to the Ministry. He was then to tell Hermes to return to Percy instead of the apartment. Harry also needed to make Hermes acceptable to come through the wards. The little elf agreed and said he would listen for Percy's call as well. Harry thanked him again and he popped away.

Percy was looking strangely at Harry while Justina was looking amused. She had seen him interact with the house elves before. Finally Percy had to ask, "So what is this place?"

"It was my grandparents place. It belongs to me now." Harry went on to explain about the house elves and the trunks.

Justina wanted to get back to the lab. Harry told her to order any more equipment she thought she might need to do the additional testing she was so excited about. Harry decided that when this was over, he'd give all the equipment to Justina as a thank you gift. Harry got some parchment and ink for Percy to write his letter. After Percy sent it off with Grissom, Harry escorted him to pick out a room. Harry was becoming glad his home was so large. It was filling up fast. Harry shook his head. He never would have imagined his first guests would be a Minister who disliked him, a Healer and the one Weasley who warned his brother away from him. Talk about irony! And all of them were in hiding with him.

Harry looked through the stuff that Neville had sent. Neville had included detailed instructions of how to care for their new pet. Percy came over after he got settled. Fossa had helped Percy acquire several changes of robes and outfits. He felt comfortable with his quarters so he had decided to explore a bit. Harry looked up when Percy entered the room.

"Do you mind if I poke around?"

"No. Feel free. There are no deep secrets here except its location."

Percy looked over his shoulder at Neville's letter. "Where were you thinking of keeping the toad?"

"I thought Justina would like Delores close to hand so she could run whatever experiments she wanted, so I thought it should stay down in the tunnels. Neville says the terrarium is charmed for temperature control and he sent a supply of insects. We just have to remember to feed Delores regularly."

Percy cracked a smile. "Delores? I like it. I could take care of her for you. I won't have much to do this week. Maybe I could be an extra set of hands for Justina as well."

Harry glanced up at him with a small smile. "You know Justina well?"

Percy blushed. "She was in my year at Hogwarts and in Ravenclaw with Penelope. I was dating Penelope pretty heavily back then, but even so I noticed Justina. I certainly wouldn't mind renewing the acquaintance." Percy was a little stiff in his reply. He looked guardedly at Harry. "There's nothing between you, is there?"

Harry shook his head and smiled wider. "No. She just helped me out at St. Mungo's. She believed me enough to double check my story about Umbridge and Blythefield. That sort of thing means a lot to me. But nothing like what you mean. Shall we bring this down to Delores?"

"Sure. I'll give you a hand." Percy took out his wand and cast _Wingardium Leviosa_. The terrarium rose into the air and floated by his side. Harry had been about to do it wandlessly before Percy had jumped in. On second thought, he supposed it was a good thing that Percy had interrupted him. The house didn't have secrets, but Harry had quite a few and he supposed he should keep several of them secret a while longer.

Harry and Percy introduced Delores to her new home. Then Harry watched as Percy joined Justina. She was explaining to him what she wanted to do.

Tubow was suddenly by Harry's side. Harry looked at him questioningly.

"Sir, Mr. Weasley's owl has arrived. There was a slight problem, but it has been taken care of."

Percy perked up. "What was the problem?" His concern for his owl was evident.

"The owl is fine, Mr. Weasley. There had been a tracking charm placed on her. Farrendahl was able to remove the charm and the estate's natural defense would re-direct any tracing that was accomplished. I just thought you should know that someone has been trying to find Mr. Weasley."

"Well, Percy, I'd say you were suspected. Thank you, Tubow, and please thank Farrendahl for me as well."

"Yes, Mr. Potter." Tubow left.

Percy excused himself to go check on Hermes. Harry gave directions to the attics where the owls were kept. After he left, Harry turned to Justina. "So, Percy seems quite willing to help you if you want him. What do you think?"

Justina avoided his eyes for a moment. "I think it could be a good thing to have him helping. I have Tiz keeping an eye on the Minister, but there will be times I need to see to him when the timing of a test here would be critical. Percy could be my hands here while I tend to the Minister. Minister Fudge still has to be my first priority." She paused. "I remember him from Hogwarts. He seemed a bit full of himself back then, but he's settled down some now, I believe." Harry smiled. He didn't tell her the settling down was a _very_ recent event.

* * *

After lunch Harry did some thinking. He was concerned that he still had not heard a word from Remus or Professor Dumbledore. He knew Mrs. Weasley would be going crazy when she learned of Percy's disappearance and she was sure to find out. She never missed delivering a Christmas jumper, even if Percy refused it. He wanted to do something to thank Neville for all his help and he thought about Umbridge's words of how she was afraid Harry would talk to the press as he did with the Quibbler the year before. Harry thought about holding a Christmas dinner and inviting them all. The problem was how to get them all here without letting the Ministry know.

The Weasley's and Grangers could come through the trunk. He remembered how the house elves were able to transport him earlier in the summer. He wondered if they would be able to transport, Neville and his Gran and the Lovegoods. He'd have to figure out Dumbledore and Remus later when he knew more of their situation. Harry decided to hold a conference with his house elves.

Harry called Tubow and asked him to gather all the house elves together. When they were all assembled Harry started. "It's Christmas on Wednesday and I have a lot to be thankful for. I would like to invite some people to a dinner. There would be somewhere around twenty people in all. What I need to know is would this be too much for you to arrange?"

Tubow looked at the others and answered for them all. "No, sir. We would be most happy to serve you and your guests." The others nodded vigorously.

"Great. Now the second problem I have is how to get them here. Earlier this year I traveled with a house elf. How many of you can still transport a witch or wizard? There are probably four people who may have a problem getting here without knowing where it is."

Tubow looked around. "Tiz, Fossa, Kreelo, Saavik and Grissom would have no problems."

Harry smiled. That would be plenty. "I don't know if everyone will be able to come. I wanted to make sure it would be possible first. You have all pulled together so well. I'm so impressed. Thank you."

Tubow bowed his head. "It is our pleasure to serve you, Harry Potter, sir."

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the day making invitations. He thought if he could arrange the transportations for 6:00, dinner could be at 7 pm. He delivered the invitation for the Weasleys and Grangers by going through the trunk and placing it on Ginny's bed.

He asked Grissom to deliver the ones to the Lovegoods and Longbottoms. He asked him to wait for replies. He decided to ask Percy for what he knew about Remus and Dumbledore. It was late now though. He would do it in the morning.

* * *

Harry met Justina and Percy for breakfast the morning of Christmas Eve. There was a wide selection of foods and as always, plenty of bacon for Harry. The Minister was having a breakfast in bed. He was more alert for longer periods of time and could feed himself now.

Harry started his questions by stating what he wanted to do. "I want to invite some people for dinner tomorrow night. Your family, the Grangers, the Longbottoms, the Lovegoods and Remus and Professor Dumbledore. I know where all of them are except Professor Dumbledore and Remus. Do you know anything about them? Ron had said that they were being watched closely."

Percy shifted uncomfortably. "The Headmaster has basically been put under house arrest. He has a two auror guard at all times. If he goes anywhere, they need to go as well."

"So I guess it will depend on who his guard is." Percy looked puzzled. Harry was quiet the rest of the meal thinking of how he could find out who the Professor's guard would be.

Harry decided a short trip to Hogwarts as Flame would help him see if there was any way possible to invite the Headmaster. Chances were very good he may have to leave him out.

Before he left, Fossa told him of visitors in the trunk. Harry went down and found his friends. He was greeted by Ron with, "Are you nutters?"

Harry laughed. "I don't think so. The Ministry won't know because they'll think you're just having a family dinner. I'm going to have house elves transport the Lovegoods and Longbottoms, too. Has your Mum found out about Percy yet?"

"She left to deliver his jumper just before we came down here. We tried to talk her out of it, but it was a no go. She was bound and determined to make the delivery even if he would refuse it again, the git."

Harry deadpanned, "I hope you're talking about Percy and not your mother."

Ron looked panicked for a moment. "Of course I'm talking about Percy! I would never call my mother…." Finally he caught on when Ginny couldn't hold her laughter in any longer. He gave a shove to Harry. "_You're_ a git!"

Harry grinned back at him then turned more serious. "Don't you think your Mum's going to be upset about Percy missing? I think it'd be one of the best presents she could get if she could have a Christmas dinner with him. We do know that the Ministry is looking for him, too, so he can't come to the Burrow."

"I reckon you're right. It was just kinda nice having this just to ourselves."

Ginny stated, "It's not like it's been a total secret for some time. Dumbledore and Professor Lupin both know about it. Mum might like to see her brothers portraits, too."

Hermione shrugged. "My parents won't care."

"All right. I reckon it could work. Maybe she'll cut us a break about having more time to spend down here. It's not like we could get into too much trouble at your place with 'Prefect Percy' staying there." He spoke with derision.

Hermione gave him a strange look. "You do realize that you're a Prefect, too, right?"

Ron squirmed a little uncomfortably. "I forgot."

The friends all laughed again.

* * *

Harry's friends left promising to let the rest of the family in on the secret of the trunks the next evening. Harry decided to grab some lunch and then continue to Hogwarts. He wanted to check it out before cornering Percy for more information on Remus. He suspected Dumbledore would be more difficult to contact than Remus. He gave himself a time limit though because he knew there was a full moon tonight. He could only spend an hour or so scouting Hogwarts. Remus might not feel up to spending time with others, but Harry wanted to invite him.

After eating, Harry went to his room just in case Percy was around and changed to Flame. He visualized just outside the main entrance and felt a wash of fire tingle through him. He liked this form of travel.

He found himself on the front steps of Hogwarts. He decided he would fly up to the Headmaster's tower and see if he could tell who was with him. He tried to figure out where it would be from the outside. He took flight and hovered just below the window. Slowly he raised his head above the sill's ledge. The office seemed empty. Harry huffed in frustration.

/Who's out there/

Harry, startled, forgot to flap his wings and dropped down several feet before he recovered himself and flew back to the ledge. He looked around carefully inside the office and saw no one. No one except Fawkes looking right back at him.

/Fawkes? Was that you/

/Fledgling! Albus has been worried about you./

Harry tried to fly through the window, but it was solid. Fawkes gave a laughing trill and flew over. He positioned himself halfway through the window and Harry found he could enter now. Harry settled on the chair in front of the Headmaster's desk. Fawkes landed on the back of the Headmaster's chair. /So where have you been, Fledgling? You are looking the best I have ever seen you, if I do say so myself./

/I've been staying at my grandparents place. Do you know where that is/ Harry was amazed that he was able to hold a conversation with the old bird. Then he remembered when Voldemort said that Wormtail found out from other rats where Voldemort had been hiding in Albania. Maybe communication was something that came with taking on an animal form.

/Yes. I've been there before, but not for many years. The Headmaster is down below having a meal. Did you want to see him/

/I would, but not in this form. Fawkes? Do you know which people he trusts? I was told he always needs to have two people keeping guard on him./

Fawkes seemed somewhat offended. /Of course I know which belong to his flock! Those 'guarding' him today are not part of it./

Harry gave a nervous jerk and look to the door. /Then I really don't want to be caught here today. I'd like him to come to dinner tomorrow, but he can only come if those with him are 'part of his flock'. I thought people could start arriving at 6 pm. Do you think you could bring them if it is safe? The guards would need to come, too. I'm told their orders are to go wherever he goes. Can you transport three/

/Of course I _could_. The only question is should I? Transporting others, especially multiple others over some distance shortens the time between burnings. I really hate burning days. It takes so long to recover and I can't protect Albus while I recover." Fawkes looked intently at Harry. "But because I know how concerned he is for you, I will do it./

/That's great, Fawkes. Thank you. But only if he has members of his flock with him. If he doesn't, maybe you could bring him some other time when he does/

Fawkes looked at him with fond exasperation. /I do understand, Fledgling. I'll be seeing you later. Remember not to tire yourself out too much or you'll bring on a burning day/

Harry thanked him again and flashed back home. He'd just have to wait and see if Dumbledore showed up or not. Harry turned back into himself and set off in search of Percy again. The afternoon was passing quicker than he thought and he wanted to get to Remus soon.

He tracked Percy down in the lab. He was feeding some fire ants to Delores. Justina was not there. "Percy, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Percy turned reluctantly. Harry had the feeling he didn't really want to have a conversation with him but was resigned to. "What did you want to talk about?"

"This morning you told me about Professor Dumbledore, but what about Professor Lupin?"

Percy closed his eyes. "You don't want to know."

"What do you mean, 'I don't want to know'? Of course, I want to know! Have you seen Remus at all? I haven't heard from him since I escaped St. Mungo's." Harry was actually getting quite worried. He knew how Umbridge hated werewolves and the last bit he'd heard from Remus sounded like he was being detained.

"He's being held at the Ministry."

"WHAT! Do they know it's a full moon tonight? Are they giving him wolfsbane potion?"

"Somehow I doubt it. Madam Umbridge has issued a decree allowing aurors to bring werewolves in without giving a reason. Most registered werewolves have fled the area, but I know they have a few in a holding cell. He's one of them. It's also been speculated that the bars wouldn't hold a fully grown werewolf and the personnel have been trained on how to use the _Silver Dart_ spell."

Harry looked at Percy with horror in his eyes. Remus had taught Harry that spell himself when Harry had started staying at Grimmauld Place. Since Remus stayed there himself locked in a room as a werewolf he wanted Harry to be prepared 'just in case'. He had told him that if the wolfsbane potion ever failed and the charms on the door failed, Harry would need to know how to defend himself against a werewolf. Harry had asked about the reaction he would have with the silver. Remus had hesitated but admitted it was usually fatal, but he would prefer that to the alternative of attacking Harry. Remus tried to emphasize that the werewolf could not be trusted at all. The only reason Moony didn't attack his friends when they were animals was because they had formed pack bonds as humans and some of that transferred. A werewolf didn't seriously attack their own pack, but that wouldn't carry over if one of them were in human form. Remus told Harry he would rather be killed with the silver dart because he couldn't survive knowing he'd attacked another person, especially Harry.

Harry came out of his memories. "But that could kill them! Why don't they just let them go? I'm sure they all have emergency plans of what to do and know somewhere safe for them to be where they wouldn't hurt anybody." Percy didn't say anything and Harry realized that they didn't want to let them go. They _wanted_ them to escape so they could shoot them with the deadly silver. "But that's murder!"

Harry's blood started to boil. Madman Umbridge had gone too far. Harry's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me, Percy. I need to do something."

Harry left the room and went to his bedroom. He looked at his watch. It was 3 p.m. It was already getting dark since it was winter. Harry didn't know how much longer he had before Remus transformed. He changed to Flame and concentrated on being wherever Remus was. He felt the warm tingle of fire wash over him and found himself in a holding cell with seven men pacing around. He was right behind Remus. He gave a trill to get his attention.

Remus was startled by the noise and turned with a scowl. Harry could see the wolf tendencies were already beginning to take over in his more emotional and stressed behavior. "Fawkes! What are you doing here?"

Harry turned his back to him and shook his tail feathers, inviting him to take one.

"You want me to grab hold?"

Harry turned his head back around and bobbed.

"Do you think you could take the others as well?"

Fawkes didn't seem to think taking multiple people was a problem so Harry spread the tail feathers wide. They were quite long. There was plenty of room for others to grab hold. Remus turned to face the other imprisoned men. "Hey, guys! I think we have a way out. Come grab hold of a feather."

One of the other men started to grumble. "I'm not grabbing hold of any strange bird. I'll probably end up eating it in an hour anyway. I wish they'd given us some food today. It's always worse when it's hungry."

"I think they know that. This is a phoenix. He can get us out of here. Look around! You know what they're planning! If you want to live, this is our only chance!"

The other man was still reluctant. Harry knew they were running out of time. He started to pipe his eerie music. All the men stilled, their restlessness calmed for a moment. Finally the man approached.

When all had hold of some part of his tail feathers, Harry visualized taking them all to the Shrieking Shack. The feathers warmed and a tingle washed over Harry. Suddenly they were in the main room at the Shrieking Shack. Harry looked around. All present and accounted for.

One of the men was looking curiously at his surroundings. "What is this place? It's obviously been used before."

Remus said, "It's someplace that should be safe for tonight. Now if we can just survive each other…" There were murmurs of agreement. Remus turned back to 'Fawkes'. "Thanks for your help. You'd better leave now and return to Dumbledore. Even you will be in danger here."

Suddenly each man started to stiffen painfully. Their faces started to lengthen and hands curled into claws. The transformations had started. It was awful to watch. Harry flew up high on top of a curtain rod that had long ago had its curtains torn to shreds. As the werewolves finished transforming, howls filled the room. Then the fight started.

Harry had never seen anything like it before. Some of the werewolves had glanced his way, but there were closer targets to vent their frustration on. They started attacking each other. The noise grew to a tremendous level; yelps of pain, snarls of aggression. They bit and clawed each other mercilessly. Blood flew everywhere. Harry was beginning to understand Remus' comment about 'surviving each other'. If this kept up, none of them would last the night.

Harry thought he'd try to calm them down through his phoenix song. He started his unearthly music. They did stop what they were doing to each other. They each seemed to flinch and turned to eye Harry. Then, almost as one, they tried to attack him. Harry quickly decided that the phoenix song, while it worked somewhat when they were human, definitely did not work on the werewolf. They were leaping for him. One grabbed hold of a tail feather that hung down a ways and Harry was knocked off balance. He recovered and flew high before he flash away.

He reappeared outside of the Shrieking Shack. He could hear the noises start up as they again attacked each other. There must be some way to calm them down enough so they didn't kill each other. There must!

Maybe food. One of the men said they hadn't eaten and that always made the wolf worse. If they were biting on some type of meat, they wouldn't be biting on each other, right?

Harry transformed into himself. He was about to call for Kreelo when he heard a sudden stillness inside the Shack. Then there was frantic scrabbling against the wall that Harry was on the other side of. They must be able to smell him. Harry turned back into Flame. The scrabbling stopped and soon they were fighting each other again. Harry decided to go home to ask Kreelo himself.

* * *

Kreelo was startled when a sudden ball of flames appeared in his kitchen. Then there was a beautiful bird standing where the fire had been burning. Then it changed again into his master who strangely preferred not to be called 'master'. "Harry Potter, sir!" That was all the Kreelo could get out. He couldn't quite think of what to say to his strangely kind but different master who could apparently turn into birds and catch on fire without burning up himself.

"Kreelo, I need to know how much raw meat we have available."

Okaaay. Kreelo's was not to ask why, he was just to answer his master's strange questions. "Kreelo had not be expecting Harry Potter, sir, or guests, but we's enough for tomorrow's feast and more's coming soon."

His master put his hands into his messy hair and started to rake it back. Kreelo wanted to tell him that was not making it any neater, but stopped himself. His master started pacing back and forth. Suddenly he looked up. "Winky?"

"Harry Potter, sir!" Another house elf popped in. She was young and very pretty. She obviously also worked for his master but must be at another residence. Kreelo thought about making himself more known to her, but the way she was clothed made it obvious she was way above his station. Even so, _he_ was way above his station now with this new master. He had never had such a nice uniform before.

"How much raw meat is at Grimmauld Place?" Must be the other residence.

"The freezer is being full, sir." Such a lovely squeak in her voice. She didn't talk like head house elves he'd heard before. Elves like Tubow talked just the way wizards talked. This Winky still spoke more like a normal house elf. Maybe he would have a chance with her.

"Winky, Kreelo, I need all the raw meat you have, thawed and on this table so I can take it away."

Kreelo couldn't help himself. "But…." His menus! No meat in the house at all? What about tomorrow's feast? His master looked at him. He was in for it now! So long, job.

"All of it. We can eat porridge or whatever else is on hand until more supplies come. Please. It really is urgent." He still had his job. His master let his balking pass. Kreelo's relief was immense. Suddenly he snapped upright. "Yes, sir! Right away."

Winky popped away, too. But she was back a moment later. Kreelo got to work thawing the frozen meat. His master still seemed somewhat distressed. "I don't think that will be enough."

"What is you needing it for?" She was a very brave house elf. Too bad she now would be without a position. First rule of house elves was you never ask your master questions.

"I've got seven hungry werewolves that I want to feed so they don't eat each other tonight." Werewolves! Was his master crazy? Well, he knew he was a little crazy with his strange ideas about house elf enslavement, but a good house elf never talks about that. But didn't he know werewolves could eat HIM! He shouldn't go anywhere near them! And he was willing to give up his meat to feed to a bunch of beasts that would never even remember eating it!

Suddenly Winky's eyes brightened and Kreelo saw something come alive in them. "Maybe's Dobby could help sir! Dobby's got good ideas." So much for his chance with her. She was obviously taken with this Dobby.

His master's eyes also brightened at the name. "Of course. Dobby?"

A very strange house elf appeared. It was the one who had found Kreelo and brought him here. He wore all sorts of odd clothes. He obviously didn't have a regular master but seemed proud of it. Very strange indeed.

"Dobby, I need a whole lot of raw meat. I need to be able to feed seven hungry werewolves. Do you think the Hogwarts kitchens could loan us some meat? I'll pay it back later."

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir! Dobby will be getting it right away!" The strange house elf disappeared with a loud crack. Winky seemed about to burst with pleasure that her suggestion helped her master. Dobby reappeared soon and another large amount of frozen meat in big slabs appeared on the table. Kreelo started thawing out this additional meat.

There was so much now that the large table was groaning under the weight. "Can we put some sort of large wrapper around it all so it will stay together?" Winky snapped her fingers and it was all wrapped in a very large burlap sack with a Potter crest on it.

"Thank you all so much." The other two elves left, beaming from the thanks from his master. Kreelo was undecided. He had seen his master let a lot of things pass that normal masters would give clothing for, but what was bothering Kreelo would be a lot worse than what he'd heard so far, but….Kreelo screwed up his courage to say the hardest words he had ever said.

"Master, you…you cannot be going. You needs to stay here. It not be safe for you to be by werewolves. They eat you or worse!" His master looked surprised for a moment. Kreelo cringed, waiting for the blow or kick that was sure to come. When nothing happened he opened his eyes a crack to see his master…smiling at him?

His master knelt down on the floor to be equal to Kreelo's height. He put a hand on his shoulder. "I _have_ to go. I have a friend that might not survive if I don't. But thank you for caring, Kreelo. That means a lot to me. I'll be careful. Don't worry. I'll be back in the morning. Do you think you could make me a treacle tart? We could have it with dinner tomorrow night. All right?"

Kreelo nodded. His master got back up and took a step back. In a moment he turned into the bird again and flew to the top of the burlap sack. The sack was about ten times the size of the bird and Kreelo knew that he'd never be able to lift it, but to Kreelo's surprise it lifted up into the air and then disappeared with the bird in another flash of fire. He turned back to his kitchen and started to pull out ingredients for his master's dessert tomorrow. He tried to focus on what steps needed to be done next instead of worrying about his master, but it was hard. He never even noticed his plain uniform had just become a lot more detailed.

* * *

Harry knew he'd have to time this very carefully. He appeared high in the living room and dropped his package on top of the snarling mass of furry bodies. By the time they stopped in surprise, he had flown to the top of the curtain rod again, making sure his tail feathers were not dangling low.

The werewolves paid him no mind but started to tear into the burlap bag. Harry was thankful that six of the pieces were about the size of a half cow because as some of the werewolves would grab a section, they'd drag it to an unused part of the house. Three of the wolves stayed in the living room. Two each with a large slab and the third eating all the smaller roasts and pork chops left in the middle of the room. They didn't seem to have a problem with each other, just the other four. Harry guessed that they were mates in human form. That gave Harry an idea. He flew high to where the other werewolves had gone. One was in the kitchen. It was a big, black one; one of the meaner ones. He looked up at Harry and growled. The Shrieking Shack still had doors and most of them worked. Unfortunately, the kitchen one didn't. That one might be a problem. He flew back out and up the stairs. He found Moony in a bedroom eating his big slab of meat. He also growled at Harry, but Harry ignored him and flew against the door. He was able to make this door close and Moony was trapped in the room. At least for now. Harry wasn't sure if it would hold if he became enraged, but it was the best he could do. He flashed back to the hallway and found the other two werewolves in separate rooms with working doors as well. One was in a loo in the shower of all places eating his meat. At least he would be easy to clean up after.

Things stayed somewhat peaceful for the next half hour while they ate. Harry stayed in the living room watching the three, more peaceful werewolves. They threw suspicious glances his way from time to time, but made no move to attack while they were eating. Harry had a feeling that would change once they were done. They didn't seem to want to attack each other, but they would gladly go for Harry.

The moment Harry was waiting for finally arrived. The big, black werewolf entered the room. He started snarling at the other three and they snarled back. Harry quickly dived and grabbed an uneaten roast in his golden talons and quickly flew past the black werewolf. The werewolf was still focused on the other three. Harry flew back and taunted him with the meat, dipping low to stick it in his face. That got his attention and he jumped up to take a swipe at Harry with his powerful claws. Harry flew up the stairs with the werewolf in hot pursuit. He flew into the only other room bigger than a closet with a working door and landed on the single bed with the meat. Then he flashed himself right behind the door. The werewolf had pounced on the bed and was ripping into the roast. Harry managed to close the door then he flashed back to Remus' room.

He was tired. He now had three werewolves who seemed content to stay in the living room and four unhappy werewolves trapped in small rooms on the upper floor; one in a bathroom and three in small bedrooms. He settled himself on top of a tall armoire. He lay down and stared down at Moony.

Moony had been throwing himself against the door as he could hear three others doing, but when Harry appeared above the armoire, he paused and looked at him. Harry thought he looked with more curiosity than aggression. Harry hoped that it meant that he recognized Harry somehow as being part of his pack now that he wasn't so hungry, but he wasn't going to put his trust in it far enough to let his guard down all the way. Moony walked away from the door and circled a spot near the foot of the armoire and lay down. Harry watched him carefully. He made sure not to make a sound as he didn't know if that would inflame the werewolf again.

Harry could hear only quiet coming from the first floor, but the second floor was alive with noise. The three angry werewolves had given up on the doors and were turning upon themselves. Harry knew there was nothing he could do for them. Remus had talked of how when there was nothing else to scratch or bite, he would bite and scratch himself. Thankfully Moony was just lying relaxed on the floor, curled in a small ball. Harry didn't think he could stand to see him going through that. He was already beat up enough from battling the other werewolves before Harry brought the meat. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Harry woke slowly. Someone was petting him. He untucked his head from beneath his wing and blinked in the morning light. He couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep. He looked down at a very battered Remus. He had cuts on his face and his cloak had several spots where the rips were sticking to his skin because of the blood. He looked the worst Harry had ever seen him.

"I can't believe you stayed last night Fawkes. And even fell asleep! That was very dangerous. You could have been seriously injured. I still don't understand why I didn't…" Remus broke off, not seeming to want to finish that sentence. He looked at Harry closely and gave a startled laugh. "Some of your feathers are sticking up on your head. Not as refined as usual Fawkes…." He broke off as if something just struck him. He looked closer at the phoenix body in front of him. "You're not Fawkes, are you?" Then his eyes traveled to the green ones gazing back at him and his finger started tracing the twisted feathers on the small head. "Oh, Harry, what have you done?" It was said very softly, but with some wonder.

Harry gave a small chirp. Movement was heard in the hall. The other men were leaving their rooms. Remus looked over to Harry. "Stay how you are." He walked over to the door and opened it. If Harry had thought Remus had looked bad it was nothing to the other three that had attacked themselves all night long. They barely seemed to be able to drag themselves upright. Each was leaning against the wall looking around in confusion. Three others joined them from below. They looked to be in the same condition as Remus; slightly beat up but definitely better off than the three trapped by themselves.

One of the badly hurt seemed in a panic. Harry thought he might have been the big, black werewolf. "I ate something last night! Is everyone here?"

Realization seemed to go through the upstairs crowd as each realized that they, too, had eaten something. Remus turned to look at Harry with a questioning panic. One of the men from downstairs cut in. "Relax. We found some meat wrappers downstairs along with shreds of a burlap bag with some crest on it. I think we had take out."

The seven made their way down the steps. The four relatively uninjured helping the three more heavily injured. Harry glided down after them at a slight distance. Remus found the bit of burlap that had the crest on it and recognition lit his face. He looked up and his eyes met Harry's. One of the other men noticed where he was looking.

"Hey, there's that bird of Dumbledore's again. He's back. Do you think he's come to take us out of here?"

Remus was still staring at Harry, but answered the other man. "Do you know where you could go where you'll be safe?"

"I'd been told of a place near Frankfort where some others were heading. It would get us out of England for a while. I was just going to start making the apparition jumps when the aurors came. You all are welcome to come along." He looked at the more beat up of them. "Do you think you could make nine apparition jumps? That's how many it would take to get that far from London. You guys have anywhere else to go?"

They shook their heads. "Not where wouldn't be picked right back up while we recover."

Remus asked softly to Harry, "Could you make it that far with so many?" Harry focused inwardly to see if he could sense what his instincts told him. Then he focused back on Remus and bobbed his head. He had never been to Germany before, but he'd seen some pictures of the countryside and had been able to get to Remus when he hadn't known for sure where he was. He believed he could do it. Harry spread his tail feathers wide.

"Everyone grab hold of a feather." The men looked startled but did so without argument.

Harry concentrated on what he pictured the countryside outside of Frankfurt was like. His feathers started to heat and he felt a wash of fire tingle through him. When he looked around again, he saw they were near a small country lane. The small group started walking down the road. It didn't take too long before they came to a resident. One of the group spoke German and asked for directions. The man was a little hesitant about speaking to such a strangely dressed and obviously injured group, but the others hung back, Harry hiding behind Remus, and the muggle told him what he wanted to know. The man thanked him politely and returned to the bedraggled group. He looked at Harry a little strangely.

"We're on the outskirts of Berlin. The bird was a little off, but it should be an easy jump to get to Frankfort now. I think we can all make it. No offense, but I've had enough travel by bird."

Harry thought he would be blushing if he could as a phoenix. Remus looked at him with amusement. "You all go ahead. I think I'll stay with the bird."

The six started to move off a ways. The one who knew the way put his hands on the shoulders of each man on either side of him. The others crowded near and put a hand on him, too. Then with a countdown, they all apparated away.

Remus turned back to Harry. "Care to bring me back with you?" Harry bobbed and Remus grabbed a feather. Harry focused on his home and they were gone.

* * *

Harry brought them to the front entrance hall. Once Remus let go, Harry transformed back into himself.

Remus looked at him in shock. "I knew it was you. I just knew it, but I couldn't believe it." He reached across and pulled Harry into a hug. Finally the emotions seemed to run their course and Remus pushed him away slightly, still hanging onto his shoulders. "You've got some explaining to do, young man!"

"Just following a family tradition. Not only my father, but my great-grandfather was an animagus. He was a magical creature, too. A tebo." Harry turned serious. "We thought it could come in handy as a means to escape if nothing else. Turns out we were right. It's how I got out of the St. Mungo's with Fudge."

"We? You mean Ron and Hermione are animagi, too?"

"Not yet. We were all going to go through it at the same time, but after I got my 'invitation' from Madman Umbridge, we decided I should try earlier."

"Madman? Appropriate." Remus finally looked around. "Where are we? Wait….I've been here once with James. This was his parents place. How did you find it?" Harry wasn't quite sure how to answer so he was happy when Remus kept talking it out himself. "Gringotts. It was listed as a property on your Gringotts statement, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Yes, it had been. It was just that Harry had already known about it. But if that belief would cause him less trouble, he'd let Remus believe it.

At that moment, a sound was heard behind him. Kreelo was standing in the doorway to the dining room. "You is back, Master! Kreelo is so relieved."

Harry smiled. "I told you I'd be back. Try to call me 'Harry', all right? This is my friend, Remus Lupin. He's going to be staying with us for a while." As he said this he turned back to Remus with a questioning look. Remus nodded his head.

"Ah, good, Harry Potter, sir! Kreelo let Tubow know. Breakfast be ready in half an hour." A moment later Kreelo popped away and soon after Tubow appeared.

Harry explained that Remus would be staying a while and Tubow left to prepare a room. Harry started to give an abbreviated grand tour. He pointed out the major rooms as he led Remus up to the bedroom level. Tubow was there and guided them to a room near Harry's. Harry left him to get cleaned up and called for Winky. She came and Harry asked her to get some of Remus' belongings as he was going to stay here for a while. Winky complied and soon Remus was changed into some fresh clothes and looked a lot better. "Not a bad place to hide out if you have to."

Harry led him to the breakfast area. He found Percy and Justina there chatting over some fresh fruit and toast. As soon as Harry appeared the table filled with eggs and pancakes.

Percy looked up in surprise. "Professor Lupin! Glad to see you survived last night. When did they let you go?"

"Er…Thank you, Percy. They…ah…didn't let us go. We escaped." He gave a quick look to Harry.

The look wasn't missed by Percy. He looked suspicious but kept his suspicions to himself. He took a deep breath and looked around the table. "No bacon or sausage?"

"Er…no. We'll be getting more meat in a few days. Until then we eat vegetarian style."

Remus seemed to want to be able to help. "There's quite a bit at the other place. We could call Winky to bring some…" He trailed off as he saw Harry start to shake his head.

"No. There's no more left there either. We can survive a few days without meat."

Remus finally started to realize where the 'take out' had come from. He said softly, "You didn't have to do that."

Harry answered back, just as softly, "You were tearing each other apart. I had to do something." His lips quirked into a lopsided grin. "Hogwarts is running low, too."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "I'm impressed. No wonder I'm still full." Remus hadn't taken much food on his plate.

The other two at the table weren't sure what conversation was going on, but realized that it was something private between the Harry and Remus. Finally Justina said, "You really should have some of those cuts and bites looked at. I'm a Healer. Maybe I could take a look after breakfast?"

"Sure. I'd appreciate it."

Harry looked up and said, "By the way, Happy Christmas."


	13. Press Conference

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett.

Chapter 13 Press Conference

After breakfast Justina healed the deeper cuts and gashes that Remus had before he left to take a nap. Justina and Percy then went down to the lab after checking on the Minister. The Minister was doing much better. He was sitting up in the chair by his bed spending time reading a few wizarding novels Harry found for him or listening to the WWN though he still tired easily and slept most of the day. Percy had spent a little time letting him know what had been happening in the Ministry since he'd been gone. He had been appalled at the lengths Delores Umbridge had gone in her vendetta against non-wizards. He had sanctioned many of the first steps, but now could see how they had paved the way for the current insanity.

Harry spent the rest of the day trying to stay out of the house elves way. He noticed that even the outdoor elves were pitching in to help scrub the place clean and coming to and fro from the kitchen. Tubow was issuing orders to his troops as skilled as any general.

Harry went to the Gym. He made a note of some of the equipment he found there. He wasn't sure what it did, but thought he would ask Fabian's portrait. Harry took a walk around the dueling platform. He noticed on the back side was a row of doors that slid open. He opened one and found more equipment stored underneath. He looked for any sort of instructions but couldn't find anything. The problem with inheriting a fully furnished house is that things didn't come with instructions. He did notice some equipment he was familiar with and took them out. He worked out on them for half an hour. While he was exercising he was thinking. If people held duels here, they would either need to set up shields every time or the walls would have to be able to absorb stray spells. When Harry finished his exercising he shot a light wandless spell at the nearest wall. It absorbed it like the wall in the trunk. He tried each of the other walls and they did the same. Harry figured it was safe to shoot spells in here, then. He wished he had someone to practice with. Maybe Ron would…except it would be rather uneven. Ron wasn't as good at wandless spells and until they came of age, they weren't allowed to do spells with their wands outside of school. Hermione was 17 but she was never as interested in dueling…except, he grinned to himself, when she was infatuated with Lockhart.

Harry left to have a light lunch. While he was eating he was thinking of Gilly. He knew Gilly preferred to be alone rather the being near the apparent chaos of activity the other house elves thrived on, but he didn't want him to be all alone. It was Christmas. Harry decided to visit him.

Harry got his Firebolt and flew over to the Guard Shack. Gilly was pleased to see him and they had a cup of tea together. Harry asked if he would be joining the other house elves for a Christmas dinner. Gilly shook his head. He said it gave him a headache to be around so much noise, but Terran and Grissom, the young whipper-snapper, would be joining him later in the evening.

It was late in the afternoon when Harry returned to the house. As he was entering, there was sudden flash of fire and three people were standing with their backs to him. Harry must have made a sound of surprise because all three suddenly turned and had wands on him in an instant. Professor Dumbledore was the first to realize who it was in front of them. "Harry? We were just speaking of you."

Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks slowly lowered their wands, but not completely. Tonks said, "Say something only Harry would know."

"You tricked Aunt Petunia into buying me some clothes that fit this summer. Hello Professor, Mr. Shacklebolt. Wotcher Tonks! I wasn't expecting you yet." It was only 5 pm. Harry was only just going to start getting ready to greet his guests he'd expected to arrive in another hour.

Tonks looked at Harry with a sideways glance. "You were expecting us?"

Harry suddenly realized what he'd said. "Well, of course I wasn't _expecting_ you. But I had wished you would be able to come tonight for dinner. Do you think you could stay? Dinner will be at 7:00." Harry heard Fawkes laughing in the background.

Professor Dumbledore came forward and looked Harry over. "You've been safe so far? I haven't been able to find you." He looked around. "Where are we? Is the Minister here as well? Is this one of his properties?"

"Er…this was my grandparent's place."

"Your grandparents?" The Headmaster paused as if trying to piece together a puzzle. "How did you learn of it?"

Harry took another breath. Before he could speak, he heard the welcome tones of Remus Lupin. "From his Finance class. He wrote a letter to Gringotts asking for a list of his assets; as he was taught to do in his class." There. He didn't have to lie. Harry just smiled.

"Remus!" Tonks and the others turned to face him. "You're alright? What happened? The last we heard, you were being held in a Ministry cell!" Tonks flew over to him and Harry was amused at the way she was anxiously looking him over.

Remus held eye contact with Harry, before he started his reassurances. "I'm fine. We're all fine. The others made it out of the country. Er…I remembered this place and made my way here. I figured it wasn't really wise to show my face around town for a while and since my wand is still at the Ministry…" Harry hadn't remembered about his wand.

"But what happened?"

Harry decided to interrupt. "Would you excuse me? We're expecting the Weasleys, Grangers, Lovegoods and Longbottoms in an hour. I need to get ready. Remus can show you around. The Minister is upstairs on the third floor. You may want to avoid his room, but the rest of the house is yours to explore. Percy Weasley and Healer-In-Training Justina Bosworth are also both staying here. If you want to sit and talk for a while, there's a room right off to the side here. If you need anything, just let one of the house elves know." Harry had been guiding them into a smallish room, well, small compared to the other huge rooms on the first floor.

As he left the room, he saw Fawkes perched on the back of a chair. "A little early, weren't you?"

/Albus has been fretting so I was afraid he was going to molt! I decided earlier was better./

"Well, that's fine. Are you hungry at all? There are nuts and fruit in the owlery at the top of the house. Farrendahl will see you have anything you need."

/I believe I will. Thank you, Fledgling./

"Anytime. Thank you for bringing them." Harry went to the front door and opened it so Fawkes could fly out. After he did he turned to go up to his room. He took one more glance into the room he'd left the others and saw the Headmaster watching him. Harry realized he'd just witnessed him holding an apparently one-sided conversation with Fawkes.

Harry didn't know what to say so decided to hurry to his room. He opted for a quick shower instead of a bath and hurriedly dressed in the outfit laid out with the wizards robe to hang open over it. Harry had thought that the Grangers might feel more comfortable if he wore a muggle outfit shown underneath the wizard robe. He was a combination of both worlds.

Harry was ready in record time and made his way back to find his guests. Remus was showing them around the main level. In the Games/Weapons Room, the door to the tunnels opened and Percy and Justina came out. "Headmaster!" Justina was pleased to see her old Headmaster. Percy hung back. He seemed more embarrassed at the confrontation.

"I've been hoping to run into you some time. I've wanted to thank you for sending your phoenix to meet me that day. If he hadn't been there at that time, I'd hate to think what would have happened to me! It's actually a good thing I was brought here. We've discovered so much that never would have been found if I'd stayed at the Hospital."

"The phoenix brought you here? Very similar as to what happened to you, Remus, the phoenix coming and taking you and the others away?" Remus looked panicked and his gaze focused on Harry. The Headmaster didn't miss this and also turned to see Harry standing in the doorway. "I suppose a phoenix helped you escape from St. Mungo's, yes?"

Harry was feeling trapped. "Something like that."

The Headmasters eyes started to twinkle and Harry was relieved when he stopped asking questions. Harry took over the tour. When the tour was over, Tonks and Kingsley decided to practice while they waited in the gym. Remus decided to watch since he was still quite tired. Harry was interested in watching them duel as well, but his Headmaster pulled him aside.

"Harry what is your plan for tonight? I suspect you have a reason for inviting the group you have. Would you share it with me?"

"Of course, sir. Most of it is because they have all helped me in some way and I wanted to do something for them. But there is a second reason. One of the things Umbridge said to me when she thought I was crazy was that I was a threat because people believed me when I talked to the press. I'm not sure people would believe me if it was just me again, but if it was me _and_ Fudge _and_ Justina _and_ Remus, I think we may have enough believability to get her out of office. What do you think?"

"If the Minister is in a condition to talk, I think you just may. How is Cornelius?"

"Would you like to see him?"

"I'm not sure he'd be wanting to see me." The Headmasters eyes were twinkling again above his half moon glasses.

"Did you, or did you not, once tell me you didn't need an invisibility cloak to become invisible? You could always borrow my cloak if you wish, of course. I haven't talked to him yet about giving an interview. I could do it now."

"I believe I did. If it would be convenient I would like to see how he is doing."

"He tires easily, but his mind is mostly there. Justina will make a great researcher. She's come up with a detoxifier that is helping him by leaps and bounds."

Harry led the way to the Ministers bedroom. As he walked, his companion silently disappeared. Harry knocked on the door and was bid to enter. He left it open behind him. "Hello, Minister. How are you doing tonight?"

"Better. Better. That house elf of yours says there's to be ham, roast beef and potatoes tonight. I will be happy to have some of that."

Harry was surprised. "Ham and roast beef?"

"That's what it said. What brings you to visit tonight, Harry?"

"Well, I haven't wished you a Happy Christmas yet, but I also wanted to ask you something. If I could arrange for a reporter to hear our story, would you be willing to talk to them? Until we can be believed as sane, we can't go out in public. They'd put us right back under." The Minister shuddered.

"I can tell what I remember of the night Delores came over, but most of the last two months has been a blur."

"I think that would be enough. Just being able to talk normally with the reporter could help prove our sanity. We also have several people who will back us up. Justina can back up the facts about the poison and Remus can talk of what they had planned for the werewolves."

"That would be good. If it could be written the right way…Who was it that did that article for you last year?"

"Rita Skeeter."

"But…it was true, wasn't it?"

"She'd promised to tell the truth. No Quick Quotes Quill in sight." Harry had to laugh at the Minister having trouble believing she could write the truth. Harry supposed he had been burned by her many times in the past, too. "Well, if you agree, I'll start getting something set up tonight."

"I do agree. I hope she can be evicted from office. She's doing a worse job than I did. I suppose Dumbledore will finally get his wish."

Harry was confused. "What wish?"

"He'd be the next in line for Minister as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot." Harry heard an almost soundless sigh from behind him. He could just picture his Headmaster sadly shaking his head.

"I doubt he'd take it. Who'd be next?"

"Amelia Bones as Head of Magical Law Enforcement. But it will never come to that. You mark my words."

"We'll see. Happy Christmas, Minister Fudge."

"Happy Christmas, Harry." Harry left the Minister deep in thought. Harry didn't know if he was thinking of Dumbledore sitting in his chair (something that was never going to happen), or of something else. Whatever it was, it seemed to be weighing heavily on him.

Harry left the Headmaster with the others in the Gym. Kingsley seemed to be beating Tonks handily. Harry was still interested in seeing the two aurors battle it out, but decided he needed to go to the kitchens. As Harry neared the kitchens, he could indeed smell the ham and roast beef the Minister had spoken of.

Kreelo loved this. He was in charge in the kitchens. He was glad that Tubow gave permission for him to try his idea. He'd hated the idea of his Master's first dinner party to have no meat. There was a lull in the activity and he looked around seeing if there was anything else to be done. To his surprise he saw his master standing by the door. He hurried over.

"Harry Potter, sir! What can Kreelo be doing for you?" He was still relieved to see his young master healthy after last night.

"I heard you had roast beef and ham. I just wondered where you got them." His master didn't seem angry, just curious. Kreelo hoped his master didn't think he had disobeyed by holding out last night. His tension increased.

"Kreelo was thinking that if Harry Potter thought asking for help was good, then Kreelo could ask for help, too. I's asked Dobby if we's could have more meat from Hogwarts." Kreelo flinched remembering that conversation. He'd gone to Hogwarts and found Dobby had been in big trouble for taking all that meat. His master must have noticed his flinch.

"Dobby couldn't help you?"

"Dobby was in dishonor. The other elves was not liking Dobby givings away the meats." Kreelo noticed his master started looking distressed. It touched something inside of Kreelo that his master truly cared. "Kreelo thought that other elves might be agreeing to take promise of extra meat in exchange. I's got permission from Tubow to offer twice the meat we had taken. I's tells them that Dobby must have forgotten to speak of that part of bargain. Dobby is honored again. They's also agreed to supply more meat."

"You are truly brilliant, Kreelo. That was smart thinking. Are you going to be picking out the meat for Hogwarts?"

"Yes, Mast…sir."

"Make sure it's the best they have to offer. Good job, Kreelo. Thank you."

Kreelo stiffened proudly. His master not only accepted what he did, he _admired_ him for it. Kreelo could now understand why the other two elves from last night seemed willing to do anything for his master, even though one did not even work for him. The feelings he caused to grow inside were new and wonderful. Kreelo knew right then that he, too, would do anything for his master. Not because he was his master, but because it was _him_. He bowed his most deep and respected bow. "You is most welcome, sir."

His master left the kitchens and Kreelo stared after him for a moment. Then he snapped back to attention. There was still a dinner to get prepared. He looked around at the other watching house elves. Saavik was watching him with large round eyes that were filled with awe. He didn't know much about her yet. She had only been here a couple of weeks. She was very pretty. Maybe he would let her have the honor of washing dishes tonight.

Shortly before 6 pm, Tubow found Harry to let him know that the house elves were going to start collecting their passengers. He advised Harry that appetizers were available in the Ballroom. Harry and company, including Percy and Justina, moved down to find several tables of various sizes had been set up. Terran, Farrendahl and Grissom were on hand with various drinks and nibbles of food. Harry had brought his trunk down to the small waiting room. It was the same room the others had talked in before. Harry assumed it was a room used for people to wait in while the person they were visiting was called down.

Harry kind of floated between the ballroom, waiting room and hallway. He was nervous though he knew he shouldn't be. These were his friends, mostly. It was the 'mostly' that was making him nervous; Neville's grandmother, Luna's father. They were the only real unknowns in this party.

The first to arrive were the Weasleys and Grangers. Ron and Ginny obviously hadn't told their parents where they were going. Mrs. Weasley was going a mile a minute about not telling her before about the room in the trunk and where _were_ they going? How could they just come to some unknown place? Didn't they know it wasn't safe nowadays? She stopped abruptly when she saw Harry. "Harry, dear! Where _have_ you been? I have been just worried sick." She then seemed to realize that her two youngest had known of Harry's whereabouts. She turned to glare at them. "You two…." She broke off abruptly as her eye caught the movement of another redhead. Percy had come to stand in the doorway.

He had not been in communication with his family since early in the summer. He stood there awkwardly now. Mrs. Weasley just looked at him like he was a ghost. "Percy?"

Mr. Weasley had seen him at work but had always been given the cold shoulder. Percy didn't seem to know what to say now. Fred and George had come up and were bristling angrily. Harry made a movement with his head to Ron, Ginny and Hermione to herd all the others away. They managed to get everyone out except Percy and his parents. Harry nudged Percy and gestured for him to go to his parents. Percy returned a thankful look and Harry closed the door. Moments later Mrs. Weasley's sobs could be heard in the hallway. Ron and Ginny were holding back Fred and George hurriedly explaining to them what Percy had done to help them.

Soon the Longbottoms appeared. Neville's grandmother drifted over to talk with the Headmaster and Neville joined the younger group. Then the Lovegoods arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley finished their reunion with Percy and came out as well, all a little teary-eyed. Now everyone was here.

Harry cleared his throat. "I want to thank everyone for coming. I wanted to invite you all because you've all helped me in the past and I wanted a way to say thank you. I've obviously never hosted anything like this before so forgive if I do something wrong." At that moment Grissom's ears started to twitch. He looked up at Harry. Harry realized he was being called by Gilly. Harry hurried over and took the tray he was holding. "Go on. Go see what he needs." Grissom popped away and Harry returned to face the room. He looked at his tray. "Anyone want another snack thing?"

There was silence. Harry put the tray down on a nearby table. Neville's gran looked disapprovingly. Dumbledore's eyes were laughing. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Well, I thought I would try to explain some of what's been happening recently." Harry started to cover from when he got the Interim Minister's invitation and Percy's warning. Percy's family looked at him in surprise. He just stayed quiet. Harry went on to tell of his suspicions of the tea being poisoned and Umbridge's incriminating words when she thought he couldn't hear. Justina took over explaining how she narrowed down which poison could have been used through the tea sample. Harry started back up with admitting his fright when the Minister started his withdrawal, 'forgetting' to mention his escape. He also glossed over Justina's arrival; just mentioning she was found out by Healer Blythefield. He then pointed out Percy's part in obtaining a toad for them to be able to heal the Minister. Fred and George seemed to have a hard time believing that Percy did all that. Then Percy told what he had known about the werewolves being deliberately held in substandard cells with all guards armed with the silver dart spell.

While Percy was talking, Grissom popped back in and whispered to Harry. Harry's eyebrows raised and then he grinned a little evilly. He whispered something back and Grissom left. Harry returned his focus to the conversation.

Eventually they were called in to dinner. There was plenty of room for everyone to sit comfortably at the long dining table. Conversation flowed freely. Harry was quizzed lightly on the security of the estate. Harry was able to honestly mention that he felt pretty safe here. A few of the safeguards had been tested and found to be working properly. He mentioned the tracking charm on Hermes and that if someone was not on the approved visitor list, he knew they would not be admitted. He had a smirk on his face as he mentioned this. It was unplottable and he always had an escape route nearby if needed. He smiled at Ron and Ginny with this. He thought to himself that he had many actually; the trunk, the house elves and his phoenix form.

Finally dinner ended and Harry offered a tour. Some had seen it before and declined to go. Mrs. Longbottom also did not feel enough curiosity to go cavorting around the home. He felt comfortable with so many people knowing where he was because they still didn't know _where_ he was. There was no floo connection and none of them really knew any route to get to where he lived.

Harry took those interested down to the lab to see Delores. Justina explained the toads color now reflected whatever Percy was wearing. Harry then showed the second floor as well. He skipped the third floor. He didn't want to disturb the Minister.

Everyone had congregated back in the ballroom. Mrs. Weasley was still fussing over Percy. She had a years worth of fussing built up in her and it all seemed to want to come out tonight. As uncomfortable as Percy was with it, Harry could also see that he enjoyed it. Harry did believe this was the best Christmas gift she could have received. Fred and George were gently quizzing Justina on all what properties the toad poison seemed to have. Harry knew they were storing the information away for any future joke products. Harry spent a while with his friends. They wanted to know the details of what happened with Remus.

Harry explained what happened in detail. Luna also knew by now about Harry's animagus form. Hermione looked horrified. "That was really dangerous, Harry!"

Ron looked confused. "Not if he was in his animagus form. Werewolves only go after humans, right?"

Hermione tsked and said, "Don't you remember the assignment back in third year? Lycanthropy is a parasite. It can only be spread by a bite to a human, not an animal. That's why Sirius didn't become a werewolf when Padfoot and Moony were fighting and biting each other in third year, he was in an animal body,…"

"See? So what were you so worried about?"

"…but that doesn't stop them from _eating_ or _attacking_ other animals! They are a werewolf you know. Their instincts are to attack other creatures."

Ron paled.

"The Ministry had starved them that day, too, which makes it worse. By the way, phoenix song definitely doesn't work on werewolves. They _really_ don't like it. Even Moony was trying to get me."

Neville nervously asked, "What did you do, Harry?"

"I got all the meat from here and Grimmauld Place, and then Dobby got even more from Hogwarts, and fed them. Then I got them trapped in separate rooms, because they had just been tearing each other apart. Three of them must have been mates, because they didn't fight each other. The others were biting and scratching themselves all night. They looked ten times worse than Remus this morning."

Ginny looked concerned. "You went back this morning to check on them?"

"No. I stayed there last night with Moony." At their shocked looks he added, "I stayed up out of reach, but after he wasn't hungry anymore he seemed to recognize me as belonging to his pack. He just lay down at the foot of the armoire I was on and went to sleep. Apparently I did too, even though I had thought it would be impossible with all the noise the others were making. He recognized me this morning."

Ginny smiled at him. "He always seems to find out our secrets first."

"Yeah, well, most of them. Maybe because he is a Marauder and expects those kinds of secrets, and maybe…I don't mind him finding out. I think Dumbledore suspects, too."

They all looked to where Professor Dumbledore was talking with Mrs. Longbottom and Mr. Lovegood. Hermione was puzzled. "Why would he suspect? He's never seen you, has he?"

"No, but he keeps hearing stories of what a phoenix has been doing and I think he knows it wasn't Fawkes. I think he either suspects I acquired a pet or that I can change. He also saw me talking to Fawkes."

"You can talk to Fawkes?" Ron's face showed surprise.

"Er…yeah. I asked him yesterday to bring Professor Dumbledore tonight if he was being guarded by members of his 'flock'. His words, not mine."

Hermione's eyes lit. "Can you imagine what we could learn? Fawkes could be centuries old. We could find out so much about history…"

"Well, he just told me not to overdo since that could bring on a burning day faster." Harry just realized he hadn't paid much attention to that. Bringing seven men to Germany from Scotland probably was overdoing it. But it had to be done to keep them safe. He idly wondered if he had to be Flame to have a burning day or if Flame could do it without him. He hoped Flame could do it in the background, so to speak, because that hadn't been a pleasant sensation.

Finally things started winding down. Harry made his way over to where several of the adults were speaking. His friends followed him. Harry waited until they were at a stopping point before he entered the conversation. "Mr. Lovegood, have you thought at all about what we spoke of before dinner? Do you think we could make an article and publish it in your paper?"

Mr. Lovegood's eyes held interest. "Yes, indeed. I do believe, though, that you should give the other papers a right to it as well. This is just too big to be only in mine, though I do appreciate the thought."

Harry's eyes started to dance. He looked over to Remus and Justina. "Do you think you'd be willing to speak to a reporter about what happened? Minister Fudge said that he would."

"Of course. When would you want to do it? Would you bring the reporter here or would we have to go elsewhere?" Remus asked. Justina had been nodding as well.

Percy shifted restlessly in his seat. "Would you want me to talk too? I suppose I could…" Harry could tell Percy wasn't comfortable about publicizing his part in what happened. He was impressed that Percy was willing to put his career on the line by admitting that he'd stolen a toad from the Minister's office.

"I've thought about it and I don't think it would be necessary. I think the three of us and the Minister would be enough for this. But thanks for the offer. If anything should be needed, you could probably be an 'unnamed Ministry informant'. We'd have to see."

Percy nodded and looked relieved.

Harry turned back to the others. "Actually we have a reporter here right now." The others gasped and looked around at each other. "One thought to be 'a beetle on the wall' of our conversations tonight."

Mr. Granger laughed. "That is one thing I find fascinating. Our idioms can be so similar but different. We would call it 'a fly on the wall'."

The others just looked confused at Harry's phrasing. All except Hermione. "She wouldn't dare…"

Harry just grinned at her and nodded. "Oh yes she would." Ron and Ginny now understood who the reporter was.

"Where'dya put her, mate?" Ron was looking around curiously at the walls and under the table.

"She wasn't authorized to come so she was routed to the interrogation room in the guard shack. Gilly and Grissom are watching over her."

Hermione got indignant. "Harry, are you saying that you're keeping her in some sort of cell?"

"Well…yeah. It's not so bad. I was in there myself the first time I came." Hermione was still glaring at him. "I had her fed the same dinner we had. She deserved something for trying to crash."

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling. "Am I correct in assuming you are speaking of Ms. Skeeter? She is the only reporter I know of that you are familiar with."

"Yes."

"Maybe the rest of us should leave you to your interview, then. I do want to thank you for having us here. I'm very pleased to know you have been doing well these last few weeks and I hope your plan works as you wish it to. Will Fawkes be providing our transportation back to Hogwarts? I can tell there are anti-apparation wards around this property."

Harry frowned in thought. He wondered if Fawkes would rather they go back with the house elves. Just then, Fawkes swooped through the doorway and landed on the back of Dumbledore's chair. "I could have you go back with the house elves if Fawkes would rather rest." He spoke to Professor Dumbledore but kept one eye on Fawkes.

Fawkes ruffled his feathers and spoke indignantly to Harry. /I can take care of my own chick very well, thank you very much/

Harry couldn't hold back the grin at the thought of the bird believing his old Headmaster to be his chick. Harry again spoke to his Headmaster. "Or if Fawkes would want to take you, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt could go by house elf."

/That would be acceptable./ Fawkes trilled.

"Tubow?" The Head house elf popped into the room. "Could you get two house elves to escort Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt to Hogwarts?" Tubow bowed his head and snapped his fingers. Tiz and Fossa shortly appeared. Harry pointed out who they were to escort to Hogwarts and the elves took their places near them. Fawkes swooped around the ceiling and dipped low over Dumbledore offering his tail feathers.

Dumbledore offered the parting words of, "It has been a most enlightening dinner, Harry. Thank you for inviting me." His face was amused as he grabbed Fawkes feathers and disappeared in a flash of fire. Two cracks signaled the disappearance of his auror guards as well.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley started to gather their bunch around. "We should be getting back as well."

Harry pulled his friends aside. "Did she see her brothers portraits yet?"

"Nah. She was too busy yelling at us." Ron looked over to where his mother was fussing over Percy again while saying her goodbyes. "I did hear them laughing at us as we passed though. But they were invisible at the time. It's not too late yet. Maybe we'll spend a bit of time with them on the way back. Mum would like that I reckon."

Hermione reached over to give him a hug. "You know, I can see that Professor Dumbledore does suspect and you did give a bit away just now."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, maybe not too much. If I hadn't known you could understand Fawkes I probably would just have passed it off as interpreting his sounds pretty well. But you were obviously amused at something he said and then arranged Kingsley and Tonks travel before Fawkes only offered his feathers to Professor Dumbledore. What did he say, by the way?"

Harry snickered again. "He was rather offended that I was going to make other arrangements for his 'own chick'."

"Chick? He's, what? Over one hundred fifty years old?" The others started laughing, too.

"Children?" Mrs. Weasley had finally finished saying her goodbyes. She gave Harry a hug. "I am so glad you are safe. Thank you so much for inviting us and for Percy." Her voice choked up at the end and her eyes teared up.

Tiz and Fossa were back and ready to take the Longbottoms back to their home. One more round of goodbyes and the Weasleys, Grangers and Longbottoms were gone.

Harry looked around at his remaining guests. "So where should do this?"

Remus said, "If the Minister feels up to it, maybe in the breakfast area?"

"That's a good idea. Percy, could you see if the Minister is awake and willing to do this now?"

Percy agreed and left. Everyone else made their way up to the third floor breakfast area. They sat and discussed all what should and should not be said. Harry pointed out that the phoenix involvement would implicate Professor Dumbledore and he probably should be left out as much as possible. The others agreed, although Remus was seemed more amused than anything. He knew Harry was right and Dumbledore would be implicated if they didn't tell Harry's secret.

After a short while, the Minister, helped by Percy entered the room. He was dressed in lime green dress robes. Harry quietly shook his head to himself. He had to bet that a house elf had charmed it that shade. He couldn't imagine they would normally have anything of that color in the trunks in the attic.

Finally everyone was settled. Percy excused himself and Harry gave the okay for Tubow to have Grissom transport Rita to their room. It was dark outside now and she would have no bearing on where they were located.

She appeared with a crack. Harry thanked Grissom and he disappeared. Rita was looking better than she had when he gave his interview for the Quibbler, but her hair looked like she had run her hand through it several times. Her elaborate curls were mussed. Her posture was stiff when she arrived, as if she wasn't sure where she was being brought and wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

She slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room. As she recognized the people sitting there she relaxed and some of her attitude returned. "Ha! I was right! I knew that eventually you'd be contacting someone and I suspected it would be your friend Luna. I knew if I stuck close, I could get in on the story. So Harry, is Luna your new girlfriend?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Luna is my friend. Now, do you want a scoop about more important things than my personal life or should we find someone else?"

Rita scowled. She adjusted her winged glasses and sat at a vacant seat. She poured herself a glass of firewhiskey, pulled out her acid-green quill from her crocodile-skin handbag and sat poised to listen. "I'm interested. What have you got?"

"Quite a bit on Interim Minister Madman Umbridge."

Rita's mouth quirked up at the title. "May I quote you?"

"Definitely. No embellishing though. Stick with what we have to tell you. It should be enough."

"What about my fee?"

"I'd like one copy available for the Quibbler, but it doesn't have to be exclusive. Feel free to sell it to whatever paper will buy it."

Mr. Lovegood was nodding. "I must admit I am most interested in Mr. Lupin's part of the story." He looked over at Harry and Cornelius Fudge. "Of course I would print the rest, but his section is what grabs my attention."

Cornelius Fudge spoke for the first time. "Rita, how did you get here without being seen?"

She looked towards Harry nervously. Harry cut in. "She is a very resourceful reporter. I'm sure she has her ways to get around all sorts of places." Rita sent him a flash of gratitude.

Remus noticed and leaned over to Harry to whisper, "More secrets you know?" Harry just shrugged.

"I'm sure you know most of us here, in case you haven't met us all, across from me is Healer-In-Training Justina Bosworth and next to me is Remus Lupin," Harry gestured towards the ones he mentioned. "and, of course, this is reporter Rita Skeeter."

With introductions over, Rita started. "I must say the accommodations here are much better than where I was before. Where exactly are we?"

Remus answered for Harry. "That's not important. There are some questions better unanswered at the moment. This is someplace safe from the Ministry and Death Eaters and we want to keep it that way."

Even though not every question was answered, she definitely was happy with the ones that were. 'Delores' was brought up for her to see and Justina provided a sample of her poison for Rita to get independently analyzed.

At the end of the night, Rita had a feral look on her face. "This could be big, really big. This will need to be done right. Give me a couple of days to get everything verified and in order and I'll get it published. Madam Umbridge would hold a press conference the next day…If I could get into that…." A dreamy look came into her eyes. Suddenly they snapped back to Harry. "She can hold her mask pretty well. You wouldn't happen to know any cracks in it, would you?"

Harry thought for a minute and then slowly smiled. "Do this," he started making soft clip-clop noises with his tongue as Ron had done at the end of the last school year. The others looked at him in amazement and disbelief. "Trust me. If she's not cracking, make that sound." Rita looked at him suspiciously, but nodded. "If you could keep it moving as quickly as you could, I'd appreciate it."

She glanced around at the obviously well-kept room. "You haven't said, but I have my suspicions of what this place must be like. You're sitting pretty right now. Why the rush?"

Harry grimaced. "Besides not liking the feeling of being a fugitive, I'd like to return to school in another week."

Rita gave a laugh. "It's easy to forget you're still a kid. The things that happen to you are not things that should happen to a kid."

"Welcome to my life." Harry made arrangements for her to be taken back to her home. Just before she left he said, "Watch your back, Rita." She nodded and was gone.

Harry met Remus for breakfast. Remus seemed to be thinking deeply on something.

"Morning, Moony,"

"Good morning, cub." Remus answered rather distractedly.

"What's on your mind this morning?"

Remus finally focused on him. "Oh, I was just thinking about your final words to Rita last night. Do you think she should be brought here after she releases the story? Her life could be in danger, too."

Harry shuddered at the thought of Rita Skeeter being underfoot all the time. "No way. If she needs to, she knows how to hide."

Remus looked at him curiously. "You do have something on her, don't you?"

Harry smirked at him. "Of course. How else would she have done my interview for free last year?"

"Don't suppose you'd share?"

Harry shook his head. "Better not. Comes in handy from time to time. Besides, we promised."

After breakfast Remus went to lie down. Harry decided to spend some time exercising and practicing in the trunk until his friends could join him. It wasn't too long before Hermione, Ron and Ginny made their way down. They were carrying a couple of bags. It looked like gifts inside of them. Harry was confused because they had already exchanged their gifts on Christmas Eve.

"Hey, Harry. Mum decided to have us deliver Christmas presents. There's a couple for you and some for Percy, if he'll accept them this year." Ron still had a tinge of bitterness when he spoke of Percy. He shoved the bags towards Harry.

"You know he will." Harry set Percy's bags aside and opened his own bag. He had another Weasley jumper and some meat pies. Harry put the food in the kitchen area of the trunk. "It's great that they will stay good down here so we can eat them when we're back at school." Harry tried to shake off the uneasy feeling that so far he still couldn't return to school.

They spent a while talking over what they had received for Christmas. Ron had another good haul this year. He talked enthusiastically about the new shin guards and keeper gloves he'd gotten from Charlie and Bill. Ginny and Hermione also told about the various gifts they had received. Harry just enjoyed listening to what his friends had to say.

Finally Ginny asked, "So what did you get, Harry?"

"Well, the stuff you guys gave me and, oh! Dobby gave me two new socks." Ginny frowned.

Ron suddenly got a gleam in his eye. "What about the Dursley's this year?"

Harry rolled his eyes and got a half smirk on his face. "You have to give them some credit. They've never repeated a gift."

Ron was starting to bounce in anticipation. "What was it this year?" He suddenly held up his hand. "No wait! Let me guess. Never repeated…so it's not pence or a toothpick or a tissue. Dental floss? No? Okay. I give up. What did the gits get you this year?"

Harry stood up and with a flourish said, "An emptied roll of toilet paper." He waved his hands with a 'ta-daa' flair and gave a slight bow to Ron's applause and laughter. "I had thought the single tissue was the all-time low, but at least that was still usable. Not even a solitary square was left." Harry started to chuckle along with Ron. Hermione just shook her head. Ginny didn't say a word and her face was expressionless.

Eventually Harry and Ron calmed down from their bout of hilarity at the Dursley idea of insulting presents. Harry looked at the bags of Percy's gifts. He supposed he should bring them out to him. He didn't really want to deliver them. He felt a bit strange delivering Weasley gifts to Percy when he had been a large part of the rift in the first place. He looked at Ron. "Do you want to deliver them? I reckon he'd rather they come from you." Ron grimaced. He obviously didn't want to either.

Ginny's face darkened. She came forward and grabbed one of the bags of Percy's gifts from Harry's hands. "I'll do it. Come on, Harry. You can at least show me where I can find him." Her voice was abrupt and Harry could tell she was upset about something. She snagged his arm and dragged him along behind her to the ladders. Ginny seemed about ready to blow. He wondered what got her so angry. He looked back at Ron and Hermione. They just shrugged. They obviously didn't know what was bugging Ginny either.

Ginny was tapping her foot impatiently, waiting for Harry to exit the trunk. "So where's Percy's room?"

Harry took the lead and went down the hall to Percy's door. He knocked on the door. There was no answer. "He could be having breakfast or already be in the lab." They went down the hall further to find the breakfast area empty so they continued down to the lab.

Harry led the way and entered the room first. Percy glanced up briefly then looked back to Delores whom he was feeding some aphids. "Neville's supplies are almost gone. We'll have to get some more. I think I've seen some toad food in your catalog from Magical Menagerie."

"Write up what you think we'll need and I'll order it. Er…Percy? Ginny's here."

Percy looked up at that and noticed Ginny standing in the doorway slightly behind Harry. "Ginny? What are you doing here?"

"I'm delivering your Christmas presents for Mum since Harry didn't want to." She handed over the bags with the gifts.

Percy actually shot a hurt look at Harry. Harry glared at Ginny. "I just thought they shouldn't be delivered by me as they're family presents."

"Family presents? Like the one you got from yours? How could you laugh about that? Empty toilet paper roll! How dare they!" Ginny ranted back at him with her hands on her hips.

Harry was beginning to feel his temper rise. He didn't particularly like talking about the Dursleys, especially in front of someone who didn't know their history. He was a little upset that Ginny would drag that out in front of Percy. "Ginny, this is not the time or the place. Alright?" He turned to Percy who was now watching them with interest. "Happy Christmas, Percy." Now it was Harry's turn to drag Ginny out of the room.

When they were a ways back up the tunnel Harry turned to her and pushed her slightly against the wall. "What was that all about?"

"It's not right that your family gives you gifts like that! Here Percy, who hasn't even been by his family for a year gets two bags full of different presents and all you got was rubbish from your family. And you were laughing about it!"

"I laughed about it because I just don't care. They have nothing that I want. I don't consider them as family anymore. They're just relatives I have to stay with for a while, not family. I have other family."

"Like who?"

"I have an uncle in Remus, a mother in your mum, a sister in Hermione and a brother in Ron. Hey! I even feel more of a family connection to the house elves that live here than I do to my relatives!"

"What about me? What am I to you?" Harry froze. He hadn't expected that. How did he feel about Ginny? His feelings for Ginny weren't anything like what he felt for Hermione, which was how he imagined one would feel about a sister. A picture flashed in his mind of rising and dipping water with popping bubbles. No. He definitely didn't think of Ginny as a sister. A sister to _Ron_, but not to him. There was a difference. A big difference. He suddenly realized how closely he was standing to Ginny. Her hair smelled of strawberries. He could see a few freckles across her nose and cheeks. Ginny suddenly seemed to hear what she just said and instantly seemed to panic. "Forget that! Forget what I just said!" Her color was running high in her face. She looked around seeming anxious to change the subject. "I just don't like it that besides the few from us you only got socks from Dobby!"

Harry shook himself to start thinking again after her surprising question. "Think about it, Ginny! Most people think I've lost my mind! Those who knew better didn't know where I was. And Remus has been in a holding cell at the Ministry for who knows how long. I'm sure he'll probably get something for me when he gets a chance." Harry could tell she wasn't as upset anymore. Harry felt he had calmed down, too.

"So why was it you didn't want to deliver the gifts to Percy?"

"I was a very big part of the reason your brother was separated from all of you for a year. Don't you think he'd rather see family gifts coming from someone from his own family rather than me?"

A voice broke into their conversation and Harry jumped back a little from Ginny. "You were the excuse, not the reason. It was my own fault." Percy was standing just down from them in some shadowy part of the tunnel. He was wearing his yellow Weasley jumper and holding his bags full of wrapped gifts. He must have recognized and opened the jumper first. Harry wondered how long he had been standing there. "I want to thank you both for delivering these presents. I didn't expect anything."

Ginny strode over to him and gave him a hug. "You should have, you prat! You should know that Mum and Dad would never give up on you and neither would the rest of us, even if some were pretty mad. Mum was horribly upset when she couldn't find you Christmas Eve. I think the best present she had was to be able to spend Christmas Dinner here with you and Harry. She's been very worried the last few weeks." The last sentence was directed at Harry with a small smile. Harry gave a small smile back.

Ginny looked back at Percy. "Were you going to bring the rest to your room to open? We can walk with you." Ginny started back up the tunnel and threw a smile at Harry as she passed him in the tunnel, taking the lead. "Come on." She flipped her long hair over her shoulder as she walked.

Harry walked behind her, watching her. He liked the way she moved. She moved quickly but still in a very feminine manner. Percy was taking up the rear behind him.

Ginny kept her lead until she reached the main entrance where she stopped dead in her tracks. The house elves must have just opened the wall of curtains that Harry had ordered closed the night before when Rita Skeeter was there as a precaution against her seeing anything that could place their location. Now the view of the cliffs was once again open to view. Ginny heaved a deep sigh. "I just absolutely love this view. I wish I could fly like you." She spoke softly to Harry. Harry knew she meant his phoenix form.

"Maybe soon you'll be able to. You're awfully close." Harry was standing behind her. Ginny sort of squirmed back into Harry, working her way under his arm and leaned into him. Her head came to the curve of his neck and Harry could feel her smile. He let her just stare out the window for another moment, enjoying the feeling of holding her somewhat.

Percy came up behind them. "I guess the view is nice enough. I've heard you're a very good flier, Ginny. Didn't you make the Quidditch team or something?"

Ginny straightened up away from Harry. "Yes, I'm a chaser." The moment seemed awkward for a moment then Ginny started for the stairs. "So, Harry, you said you felt the house elves were like part of your family. Did you get anything for them for Christmas?"

He gave her an uneasy glance. "Er…yeah. I was going to offer them time off or something but Tubow said they wouldn't like that. So I got Tubow a pocket watch, Gilly a warm blanket and the rest of them embroidered cleaning cloths or engraved tools with their names on them." He hurried on. "Don't tell Hermione. I'm not sure what she would think about that. I couldn't think of anything and they all really seemed to like them. House elves don't generally own anything that personal. It did go over well. It wasn't clothes to wear so none of them got scared they were being let go. I did also get three sets of gobstones for them all to share. I figure it's not that hard of a game and if things get slow they can play them and clean up the mess afterwards. They do seem to enjoy cleaning."

Ginny grinned at him. "Your secret is safe with me." They were on the third floor now and Ginny looked back to Percy as they passed his door. "I'll see you later Percy. Come on, Harry. Let's rejoin the others." She pulled Harry into his bedroom and shut the door. Harry had looked back right before the door closed and saw Percy had a very odd look on his face.

Ginny was fired up to practice on her animating spell. Harry knew she had been close for quite a while, but today she managed to go over the five-minute mark. She was ecstatic.

Even though they wouldn't be doing any transformations today, Hermione led Ginny through the trance.

"Follow my voice…listen to the rhythm of my words…" Hermione led Ginny into a deeper and deeper in the trance. Finally she came to the part they had all been waiting for. "Now I want you to open your eyes and tell me what you sense."

Ginny's started to smile widely and had a blissful expression on her face. "I feel a warm sea breeze. I can hear the waves and a birdcall. There it is. A falcon." Apparently the falcon landed on her arm and she spent some time in the trance looking closely at it. She described the feathers and talons and even the look in its eyes.

Eventually she came out of the trance and went to look up everything she could find in the animal anatomy book Harry had received on his birthday. "I'll be able to fly!" Ginny spent the rest of that morning happily contemplating what it would feel like after the initial transformation to be able to fly with her own wings.

Harry smiled indulgently at her. He was happy for her. He knew that between her love for the sea and her naturalness in the air on her broom, she would have a riot riding the breezes. They had figured she would transform this coming weekend. Harry hoped when she recovered, she would be willing to fly outside on his property with him. He wondered if they would be able to communicate when both birds. He remembered Padfoot saying he was able to communicate after a fashion with Crookshanks and Crookshanks belonged to the cat family.

At noon the others left for the day and Harry climbed back out of the trunk to have some lunch of his own. Percy, Justina and Minister Fudge were about to eat at the breakfast area so Harry joined them. It was the first time the Minister left his room. Conversation was kept light throughout the meal. The Minister slowly ate what he could and then Justina helped him back to his room leaving and Percy and Harry behind.

Percy cleared his throat. Harry looked at him inquiringly. Percy kept his eyes on his plate. "That was rather strange this morning."

Harry arched an eyebrow. "What was strange?"

"I never thought I'd see my baby sister grab a boy and drag him into a bedroom." Harry could feel heat rush up to his face. He was about to speak when Percy continued. "Now I understand about the trunk situation. I've used it myself. But that just looked…strange."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. Percy gave him a brief glance. "I couldn't help but overhear part of your conversation in the tunnel. Would you mind answering? How do you feel about her?"

"I like her, of course. I admit I've thought about a closer relationship in passing, but I don't know if it could ever happen." Harry focused on the scene outside the window. He could feel Percy's gaze shift to him.

"Why not?"

"Well, first, I'm not sure how she feels about me." Percy made a small snorting sound. "I know she used to have a crush on me, but that just isn't the same. She didn't really know me then. Hermione said last year that Ginny had given up on me quite some time ago."

" 'Given up'? Not 'stopped liking'? That could just mean she didn't think you would ever return her feelings."

Harry would have to think about that. Percy continued, "You seem comfortable touching each other."

Harry raised his eyebrows. "I guess we have gotten more comfortable with that. Usually I'm not comfortable with touching people. I wasn't raised with it and never know how to react. She decided a while back to teach me how to flirt and started giving me light touches every now and then on the arm or shoulder, you know. I don't know. It doesn't seem as odd with her now. It doesn't mean anything. At least…I don't think it does." He glanced over at Percy. Percy was still watching him.

"Maybe. If you thought she did still like you would you date her?"

Harry was getting a little irritated. The memory of Percy's letter to Ron the year before and his argument with his family earlier in the summer flashed through his head. "Why the questions, Percy? Trying to make sure she doesn't get too close to me?" His voice came out a little more aggressive than he meant it to be.

Percy winced. "No. Though I can see why you would think that." He took a deep breath. "I never really saw you as a person before. Even when I wrote that note on the Ministry invitation, it wasn't so much for you as much as trying to stop Madam Umbridge from doing again what I suspected she did to Minister Fudge. Since I've been here I've watched you. I've watched how you interact with people and even your house elves. I know you don't care overmuch for either me or the Minister – not that I blame you, we've treated you badly, but you still want to protect us. I've seen you with my Mum and with the Headmaster. I can see how loyal your friends are to you and you to them." Percy paused for a moment. "You are a strong wizard. But now I've seen that when you care deeply about something, like your friends and 'family', you're even stronger. I'm curious what you would be like with an even closer relationship."

"What about Voldemort?" Harry watched Percy wince at the name. "It's still true that I tend to have run ins with a maniac psychopath who'd be happy to kill me. While I'm at it, I've not been on real good terms with the Ministry for quite a while either."

"Yet you're still willing to take on the care of Minister Fudge. I admit the You-Know-Who thing still bothers me some, but I was the only one in the family who it bothered. Everyone else was more than happy to have you be a part of their daily lives. I'm not as bothered as I was before. I watched your eyes when I told you about Remus. After the fear and anger, you had such determination in them. I could literally feel your power roll off you. I don't think I've ever felt that before except from Professor Dumbledore. I don't know what you did and it's probably better that I don't know, but I know you did something. You and Ginny are matched that way. I don't mean I can feel her magical strength like I did yours, but she has that same determination. After what happened in her first year, she doesn't let herself be moved if she thinks something needs fixing."

Harry thought that was true. Ginny was quite willing to get in Harry's face if she thought he was doing something stupid. More willing than even Ron and Hermione.

Harry frowned. "Even so, there's still one reason why I don't know if I could ever consider a relationship with Ginny. Your family."

"My family? You-Know-Who I sort of understand, but what do you mean by my family?" Percy looked rather surprised.

"Ron was my first close friend. I really do feel he's as close as a brother."

"Do you think he would have a problem with it?"

"No. I think he sort of would like it to happen."

"Then what's the problem?"

"Your Mum and Dad. I care for them as if they were my parents. What would happen if it didn't work out? Things could get awkward and I'd lose that. I don't know if I could bear to lose that."

Percy shrugged. "There's no guarantees in relationships. Just remember, though. Most failed relationships are amicable. I could go to Penelope's parents house and feel perfectly welcomed. If you take relationships slow, they generally end okay, too. It's when things are pushed faster than they should be that hard feelings tend to rise faster and there's more bitterness."

Harry looked back to his plate. He decided he'd have to think about this some. A noise near the hallway made him look up. Remus was standing there. He was looking much better, but was still moving a little gingerly.

"Remus! You want some lunch?"

"Yes, please."

Percy got up. "Well, I'll be heading towards the lab. It's been nice talking to you, Harry."

"Er…yeah. Nice talking to you, too, Percy." Percy folded his napkin, putting it near his plate and left.

Remus sat down near Harry. He took some food that was still out and placed it on his plate. "What kind of talk were you and Percy having? I didn't think you talked that much together."

"We don't usually. Ginny helped deliver Christmas gifts to Percy this morning and he asked what kind of relationship we have."

Remus stiffened slightly. "He was against you having any kind of relationship with Ginny?"

Harry grinned at the protective tone in Remus' voice. "Actually, I'm not sure. It sounded like he wouldn't be overly thrilled, but wouldn't be against it either."

Remus looked over at Harry with a teasing look in his eye. "So what kind of relationship _do_ you have with Ginny?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Right now, she is my friend."

"Right now?"

"Yes. Right now."

"What about in the future?"

"I don't know. I have to do some thinking on what that could mean to my relationship with the Weasley family if something should go wrong. Then, of course, there's always her input on whether she would want anything more anyway."

Remus gave a short chuckle. "I'm glad you're not taking her wishes for granted. I doubt you could ever do anything to make the Weasley's turn their backs on you, but I can see why you could be concerned. That will be something you have to work out for yourself. So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?"

Harry's eyes lit up. "Do you feel up to seeing what all is in the Gym area? I'm not sure what all that stuff is. Maybe you could explain what some of it does."

"Sure." Remus finished off what was on his plate then he and Harry made their way to the large gymnasium area on the second floor.

Remus and Harry spent the afternoon in the gym. Remus went around telling Harry what various pieces of equipment were for and how they worked. On Friday afternoon, they went there again. Harry asked Remus to show him spells he knew and since Remus knew he could do wandless magic, showed him some of the wandless spells he had learned as well. Harry was getting a little antsy. No mention had been made yet in any of the papers of their interview. He still had another week before he needed to return to school, but time seemed to be passing quickly with nothing happening.

Saturday morning, Ginny did her first transformation. It was hard to watch. Harry thought it was probably harder to watch than it was to go through it himself. It may have been worse for him because he knew exactly how much pain was involved, whereas Ron and Hermione couldn't see the effects of it so much as Ginny was in her bird form.

Hermione had brought down a mirror that she placed in front of Ginny in her falcon form. Ginny, however, was not responding. Harry was getting worried. There were slight chirping noises coming from her and her breathing was faster than Harry thought was normal even for a bird. Without another thought Harry transformed. Suddenly he could hear small pants of /It hurts, it hurts, it hurts…/ Harry trilled out a small burst of song and Ginny started to calm down.

/Ginny/

/Harry? I hadn't realized it would be quite that bad. I think I'll just stay like this. I don't want to go back. That hurts too much/

Harry hopped over next to her. He bent his long neck around so he could see her face and spread a wing over her. She was a little more than half his height, though he had to admit his was a lot of neck, but seemed much lighter weight. /Just take your time. Don't try to do anything this time unlike what I did. You won't catch on fire, but we can learn my mistake so it won't be so hard on you. Just sit here and relax. I'll stay with you/

Ginny stayed curled next to Harry. Harry looked up to see Ron and Hermione's worried faces. Hermione leaned down. "Ginny, are you all right?"

Ginny just tucked her head under Harry's wing. Hermione turned her worried gaze to Harry. "Harry? What's wrong?"

Harry shook his head. How was he supposed to tell her anything when he was a bird? He tucked his head under his wing to find Ginny. /Ginny? They're getting quite worried about you. Do you mind if I pop out to let them know what's going on? I'll be right back/

Ginny slowly peeked out from under his wing. /Okay. But promise that you'll come back right away/

Harry slowly lifted his wing from around her and straightened up. With a thought he was back to his full size. Ron grabbed his arm. "What do you reckon is wrong with Ginny? What's going on?"

"She'll be fine. She was just taken by surprise by the pain of the transformation. I think if she just takes it easy for a bit she'll be okay. But let's give her some time."

Ron looked a little better at that. He knelt down by Ginny and made to pick her up. Ginny squawk him then turned to Harry and started chirping like crazy.

Ron looked at Harry. "What's she saying?"

"I don't know. I can understand her when I'm in my form but not now. I bet she still feels too much pain for you to pick her up, though. I also said I'd change right back, so I'll cut this short. Just leave her be for a while. When she's ready for anything else, I'll let you know."

"Hermione and I will be right here. Take care of her, mate." Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder and stepped back with Hermione. They watched as Harry transformed back into the phoenix. Harry made his way back to Ginny and covered her again with his wing. She gave a painful whimper then relaxed against him, listening to his heartbeat.

/Talk to me. Tell me something. Maybe that can help get my mind off this pain/

/What do you want to know/

/Um…Does it surprise you that we can talk like this/

Harry thought for a moment. /No. I hoped we could. When I found out I could talk to Fawkes I wondered if it would transfer to other birds as well. I even remember Sirius mentioning that he and Crookshanks came to some sort of understanding, so maybe there will be some cross species communication. I'm hoping so, because the chance of all of us being some type of bird would be unlikely, but it would be good to be able to communicate with each other/ He thought for another moment then added/What does surprise me is that I can't understand you when I'm my normal self. I could understand Fawkes as myself as well as in the phoenix form. Maybe that's something to do with him being a magical creature/

/How in the world were able to do anything when you first transformed? I couldn't believe how bad that was/

/I think I've just gotten good at blocking out pain. With the scar pain, I've had a lot of practice/

They talked for quite a while. Harry started talking about what Kreelo had done for him Christmas Eve and how it made him feel that Kreelo wanted to protect him. Without going into detail of what was said, he spoke of the conversation he had with Percy and how Percy said he didn't have so many problems with the idea of Harry being close to his family as before.

After about an hour Ginny was finally ready to look into the mirror. She was awed by what she saw. The falcon was dark on the back but the dark bands and specks on the birds' creamy breast seemed to have a reddish tint. Her 'moustache' also had a reddish-brown quality. /How can that be me? I don't feel any different/

/Spread your tail feathers/

Ginny did so immediately. Harry commented/It doesn't feel different but somehow you know how to do things impossible to even think of as human. That surprised me, too, when I first transformed. I'm glad of it because otherwise I'd never be able to do any of the things that phoenixes can do. Especially the flying. Just you wait, Ginny. It's great. Sometime next week you need to come back and catch some breezes off the cliffs with me/

Ginny turned her brown eyes up to Harry. /I can't wait/ There was a sudden noise of a camera click. Ginny and Harry turned to look at Hermione.

"I thought you might like to be able to look at yourself in more detail later. We'll have to be careful that the picture doesn't get into the wrong hands, but it may help this weekend." She paused for a moment. "Are you ready to change back?"

Ginny made a reflexive duck back under Harry's wing. He sang a few notes and she peeked back out.

/One more time and you can recover all weekend and it will be over. You'll never have that pain again. I wish I could be there to help you recover/ Harry regretted once again that he was on the run from the Ministry.

/Harry, could you please stay with me for a little while as Flame? That song thing really seems to give me courage to cope with the pain better/

/There's still another hour before you guys need to head up. You can stay down here for that time. I'll go set it up/

Harry stepped away from her and returned to normal. "Let's get that bean bag over here and put her on it so we won't have to move her after she transforms. She's not going to want to move for a while."

Ron found the beanbag and enlarged it near Ginny. Hermione gently scooped Ginny up and placed her on the comfortable chair. Moments later Ginny let out a screech that turned into a scream and was once again fully sized.

"Harry?"

Harry turned back into Flame and started to sing softly. He was close to her and she suddenly reached out and pulled him near. Just as he had his wing over her before, she now cradled him in her arms, holding him like a teddy bear. She obviously was taking some comfort in holding his warm, feathery body. Ginny eventually started to calm down from the latest bout of pain and Harry stopped his strange song.

Even though she was now calm, Ginny didn't lessen the grip she had on Flame. Harry understood she wanted the contact with another living creature and he just laid his head on her shoulder and settled in to wait. She seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as she realized that Harry wasn't going to try to get away from her and tightened her hold briefly in a thank-you hug. Harry was glad to do this for her. Truthfully, he kind of liked it. He knew he would never feel comfortable being this close to Ginny in their present relationship if he were in his normal form, but somehow as a bird it was okay.

Harry felt very relaxed. He was in a kind of half-asleep state when he heard a shutter click. He opened his eyes and lifted his head. Ginny also stirred and gave a soft moan. Harry turned his attention to her and sang a few encouraging notes. Ginny gave him a slight squeeze then turned her head to see where the sound had come from. Harry looked, too. Hermione was standing a short ways off holding a camera with a soft smile on her face. Ron was nearby with an expression somewhere between amused and concerned.

Hermione's voice gently spoke, "Sorry to wake you, but we have to go. It's already 2:00 in the afternoon. We've put your Mum off for this long, but she's going to want to check on you soon. We've told her you've seemed to have caught a slight bug."

Ginny groaned again but started to struggle to sit up. Harry hopped back and transformed so he could help her. Hermione and Ron were right there, too. They seemed to have everything under control so Harry stepped back to watch them leave. He felt another tinge of regret that he couldn't go with them.

At the foot of the ladder, Ginny turned back to look at him with a small smile. "I guess I'll have to find my old stuffed unicorn. I've forgotten how nice it is to hold something," Then she grinned a little more. "But somehow I don't think it will be quite the same. Thanks, Harry."

Harry could feel his face redden. "It's nothing." She turned back to the ladder and gingerly made her way up them with Ron and Hermione encouraging her each step of the way.

After his friends closed the lid of Ginny's trunk, Harry sighed and climbed out his side. Harry made his way to the breakfast area to see if he could find something to eat for lunch. Now that he thought about it, he was kind of hungry. He had only stopped for some toast so he hadn't eaten much at all yet today. Harry preferred eating at the breakfast area for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was usually served in the small second floor eating area, but Justina and Percy had usually had lunch brought to them in the lab or ate with Minister Fudge so Harry was often alone. Now Remus was here, but Harry figured he had probably eaten long ago.

He sat down at the table and Kreelo popped near his side. "Harry Potter, sir, should be eating. Harry Potter want Kreelo to make something?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, Kreelo. Could you make me a sandwich? I'd like something to tide me over until dinner time."

"Yes, sir!" A moment later there were three ham sandwiches on a plate in front of him. Harry gave a small laugh. He'd never go hungry if Kreelo had anything to do with it.

As he started eating he looked over and saw the Daily Prophet lying nearby. He picked it up and almost dropped it when he saw the headline.

**Interim Madam Minister Umbridge appoints new Undersecretary**

_Head Healer Horatio Blythefield accepts appointment_

_Late yesterday afternoon, Interim Madam Minister Delores Umbridge made a press release on her appointment of a new Undersecretary. Bypassing all traditional courtesies of submitting the recommended appointee before the Wizengamot for them to air any objections, Delores Umbridge only submitted him as a fait accompli. "We need to have a stable government and there was no time to observe the niceties of such an outdated form of protocol. I must confess myself severely disappointed by the way they have shown to drag their feet on several of my proposed laws and I wonder if it would be wise to temporarily disband them altogether. It would make for a much more efficient government."_

_Proposed laws mentioned are most likely the ones restricting goblins to only certain jobs directly related to the banking industry and the permanent marking of werewolves and centaurs; punishment of non-compliance being execution._

_Head Healer of St. Mungo's, Horatio Blythefield, seemed pleased to accept this non-traditional appointment and stated his full support of Interim Madam Minister Umbridge. "I have always been interested in politics and lately have been able to reduce my caseload so I could take a more active role in it. Of course, I also have a deep concern for my most recent patients, former Minister Fudge and our famous Boy Who Lived. If they are ever found, I urge the public to let me know as soon as possible. I will continue to take an interest in their case. It is the least I can do."_

Harry put down the paper with disgust. His previous enjoyment of the day had melted away. He felt frustrated. This article just brought home the situation in the outside world. So Blythefield had wanted in to politics. Umbridge made it possible for him to skip all the lower levels and get right to the second-in-command spot. He hoped Rita would publish her article soon. He hoped it would be enough to get him and the Minister some freedom. He had a sudden thought that Rita had already tried to publish it and it was squashed. How would he know if something had happened to her?

Harry distractedly got up from the table, not realizing he had eaten all three of his sandwiches. He had to find Remus. He had to see if Remus had seen this article and what he thought about it.

Harry started looking around and finally located him in the library. Remus was reading a large book on the history of Wizarding Government. Remus looked up when Harry entered and noticed the slightly panicked look in his eyes. "You've seen the article," he stated.

"Yes. You don't think anything could have happened to Rita, do you? I mean, how would we know?"

"She said she needed a few days. It hasn't been very long yet. Let's not assume anything until she's had a little more time. Let's wait until at least the weekend is over." Remus sighed and set his book aside.

"What are you doing?"

"Her comments about suspending the Wizengamot worried me. Obviously after Fudge and you, her next target would be to remove Professor Dumbledore from power. I was checking to see if it had ever been done before. So far, I don't see that is has been. I just wonder what she is planning next." Harry started pacing. "Harry, calm down. Why don't we go to the gym and work off some of your energy." Harry looked up surprised. "I'm feeling much better today and I think we could practice some dueling techniques. Of course, you'd have to practice wandless, but you're pretty good at that so I don't think it would be a problem."

Harry's face broke out in a wide grin. "That'd be great! Let's go!"

Harry and Remus spent the next few hours practicing different attacks and defenses. Harry hadn't had such fun in a long time. Remus showed several different combination hexes that needed very different blocking techniques, so when sent together usually cause one or the other to slip past the defenses.

Cornelius Fudge joined them for dinner. It was the first time he'd left the third floor and he was rather winded as he sat down. Harry was happy to see he was dressed in everyday clothes instead of lounging pajamas. He took that as a sign that he was recovering. Harry wasn't sure if he had seen the article in the Prophet or not and decided not to say anything about it unless he already knew. He figured that Justina or Percy must have seen it and they knew better than he what it would do to his health.

He did apparently know of the article and it was widely discussed during the meal. Remus was able to ask his questions to Fudge, who knew much more about what a Minister could and couldn't do against the Wizengamot. He said the only way she could remove the Wizengamot from having an influence on the laws would be to overthrow their current system of government. The only way she could possibly do that would be if she had enough Aurors under her control to form a police-state dictatorship.

They all doubted she had enough control over the aurors to do that, but it was chilling that they had to entertain the possibility. There had been several aurors who had been perfectly willing to murder the werewolves.

Near the end of the meal, Cornelius Fudge looked around the room. "It has been very pleasant staying here. It is a most impressive house, Harry, but I have to admit that I look forward to returning to my own home. I miss my daughters." Harry looked up guiltily. He hadn't even thought about what they must be going through. He wondered if he should find some way to contact them. The Minister seemed to read his face. "I am sure they are being watched very closely and it would be foolish to try to contact them at all, but I do worry about them as I'm sure they are worried about me. Justina has told me they weren't even allowed to visit while I was in St. Mungo's. I even look forward to being in the care of my own house elves. I hope things come to a head soon."

Solemnly the others agreed.

The next morning Harry didn't even bother with going in the trunk. He knew from experience that Ginny would still not be up to anything that day and so Ron and Hermione would not be showing up either. He spent the morning exploring more of his house and grounds. He followed the tunnels all the way down to the sea. The tunnel ended in a large cave area with a sandy gravel floor, which sloped sharply down to the waters edge. There was also a dock mounted onto the side wall all the way to the cave opening. Obviously at high tide the water was much higher than it currently was because the dock was quite a bit above the current waterline. Every so often there were rungs that disappeared into the water, which Harry assumed, could be used to climb down into a boat tethered to the dock no matter what level the tide was at.

Harry had never been so close to the sea before. He had to admit that the sound was a comforting sound. The rhythm of the waves entering and leaving the cave had an almost hypnotic feel to them. He could see why Ginny's stress ball emitted this sound. It wasn't quite on par with phoenix song for him, but it was good. One problem he had with it was he wasn't so comfortable with water since he didn't know how to swim. He'd gotten through the second task with the help of gillyweed, but if he was going to live on the coast, he decided he would have to learn to swim. He resolved that he would learn to swim that summer.

Harry next spent some time with Gilly. Gilly was finally relying more on Grissom for help. He realized after the Rita Skeeter episode that Grissom would take direction from him, not try to take over from him. Harry was glad he finally was confident that Harry would not replace him. Ever. He would have his position for as long as he lived. Now that he truly believed that he felt he could relax a little and let those with strong magic do most of the hard stuff. Gilly decided to start to teach Grissom some of what he knew.

Gilly, once again, reminisced of times long ago when the Potters lived at the house. Harry loved hearing the stories. Gilly spoke of previous house elves and their personalities. He even remembered some stories of 'young Master James'.

After an hour with Gilly Harry finally found the greenhouses. Terran was pleased to give Harry a tour of the plants they had been able to rescue from the long period of neglect. He looked at Harry strangely when they got to the back corner and Harry started laughing at the Gillyweed found there. Most of the plants Harry recognized, but some he had no idea of the properties they had. Harry thought Neville would be a better audience for Terran than Harry was. He probably would recognize and appreciate the plants better. Harry did express his surprise that there were so many plants that survived the fifteen or so years of neglect. Terran bristled with pride, but acknowledged that the last house elf must have died only four or five years previous.

The rest of the day was spent with Remus practicing spells and playing chess. Harry was actually somewhat glad Remus was on the run, too and wouldn't be able to go on any missions soon so they could spend this time together.

Monday morning Harry was awake early. He went to get some breakfast and saw Remus already there. Remus told him he'd like to get some books from Grimmauld Place that day. He would call Winky to help him travel back and forth.

Tubow appeared with the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. Harry thanked him and opened it up.

_**Conspiracy at the Ministry**_

_Poison used to fake Cruciatus damage_

_By Rita Skeeter_

Harry must have made a noise of surprise because Remus started looking over his shoulder. Harry laid the paper flat between the two of them so they could both read. The article was well done. Harry was impressed that Rita had even brought the poison to be analyzed to a well-known and respected apothecary which specialized in researching poisons and their effects.

Everything about what kind of effects would be caused by the poison was confirmed as well as the continued use being lethal. The article went on to say how Healer-In-Training Justina Bosworth's help had been enlisted by the fugitives in order to wean the Minister from his forced addiction. It also gave her the credit of creating the detoxifying solution. She mentioned that in her interviews with both Harry Potter and Minister Fudge, both seemed alert and cognizant. Facts were stated clearly with no signs of dementia or paranoia.

_With what has been confirmed of what their 'medication' would do to them, the only 'persecution complex' they have seems to be justified._

Harry was pleased with the article. Rita had done well. He looked up. Remus had read faster than he and had started reading another page. This page had an article from her in response to comments made by Umbridge about the Wizengamot dragging their on the proposed law changes.

_Many in the Wizengamot have stated they feel these measures are much too restrictive, if not 'downright wrong'. According to one anonymous source in the Wizengamot offices at the Ministry, "Truthfully, her proposal of these new laws have brought attention to how restrictive other laws passed through have been. Chief Warlock Albus Dumbledore actually laid each change out and it was clear to see that since Delores Umbridge became Undersecretary for Cornelius Fudge seven years ago, tiny steps have been taken over time to severely inhibit the freedoms of the werewolves. The Chief Warlock then asked, 'What will come next?' It was quite impressive. The Chief Warlock also stated how tense relations between the centaurs and wizards has been in recent decades and how it was very unlikely that the centaurs would ever consent to be marked, which would mean, according to the proposed law, any centaur could be executed without impunity. Goblins have never been restricted to only working in Gringotts. I, myself, have quite a collection of very fine silver candlesticks carved by goblins. It would be a shame to lose that workmanship by forcing them to not teach their children their trade secrets." _

Harry reached for The Quibbler. The Daily Prophet hadn't had much on Remus' interview and Harry remembered that Mr. Lovegood had been very interested in it. Sure enough, there was a prominent front page article on Remus' interview.

_The werewolves in our community are fast fleeing the country or going into hiding. According to new regulations, Aurors can pick up werewolves for no particular reason and hold them in the Ministry cells. Mr. Lupin had been picked up and held for 10 days before he managed to escape right before the full moon. "If we had not, there was no way those cells could have held us. They did not offer any wolfsbane potion as many of us use to keep our minds. They only option they would have would have been to kill us. Most of us do not want to attack anybody, but without the proper safeguards we normally put in place, we would not have been able to stop. We don't want that anymore than you do."_

"That's good, Remus. I think she did a good job all around, don't you?" Harry was very happy with all the articles he'd read. They weren't sounding crazy and other opinions stated seemed to recognize how far gone Umbridge was.

Remus was pleased as well. They figured that Umbridge would give a press conference tomorrow in the Ministry Atrium and hopefully that would be the end.

Percy, Justina and Cornelius Fudge showed up for breakfast as well and were shown the articles. The morning was starting off very well.

After breakfast, Percy and Justina made their way to the lab to work on possible future applications of working with the toad poison and Cornelius went back to his room to read a while. Remus left for Grimmauld Place's library and Harry went to the trunk.

Ron and Hermione came down after a while and celebrated with Harry on how well the articles sounded. Ginny sent her congratulations, but had decided she wanted one more day of rest before joining them. She had felt well enough to open the trunk for them, though.

Lunchtime came and Harry had a light meal. Afterwards, he met up with a returning Remus. Winky was helping him carry several books. Suddenly Fossa appeared next to Harry.

"Mr. Harry Potter, sir! Minister Fudge is requesting your presence. There's being something on the noisebox he is wanting you to hear." Harry and Remus looked at each other then quickly made their way to Fudge's room.

When they appeared at the door, Fudge, Justina and Percy were crowded around the Wizarding Wireless. Tiz was also absently fluffing a pillow as she shamelessly listened in. When Fudge saw them, he started to wave them over. "Come here, come here! She's giving the press conference now."

"…_I will repeat what I've said before, those familiar with Ms. Skeeter's writings have to know there is always an exaggerated element in them. Sensationalized press is what she has always strived for. She obviously has some grudge against me, though I have no idea why. How anyone could suspect me of foul play when I have always supported everything the Minister has ever stood for I cannot fathom…"_

Harry felt a fist clench his stomach as he heard the falsely girlish tones of Umbridge. He could just picture the wide toad-like smile on her face as she uttered her false words. Just then there was an interruption from the crowd.

"_Excuse me, Madam Umbridge, then how do you explain the poison confirmed to have the effects claimed by the medical records or Justina Bosworth's confirmation of the false report filed of the cruciatus effects on Harry Potter?"_

"_Ms. Skeeter, how did you get in here? I believe you did not have authorization for this press conference."_

"_Will you answer the question?"_

"_It was very foolish of you to come here. Did you know I've place an order for your arrest? You **claim…" **_

The word was loaded with disbelief.

"…_to have interviewed with Harry Potter and Cornelius Fudge. You are charged with withholding the location of people in medical need. Aurors? Will you please take hold of Ms. Skeeter and keep her quiet? I would like to question her on the whereabouts of our missing patients when this press conference is over, not that I believe she knows. Now, on to the ridiculous suggestions that my new laws are going too far…"_

Harry was livid. She was going to get out of it! He wasn't worried about Rita being able to get away, but it was the whole principle of the thing. Rita had said she would be a tough nut to crack, but Harry knew her weakness. The problem was Rita wouldn't be able to play her card right now. Harry silently started to back out of the room.

Once in the hallway he quickly made his way to his room. "Winky?" The little house elf popped in near him.

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir? What can Winky be doing for you?"

Harry was searching through his trunk. Finally he found it. "Winky could you pop us over to the Ministry atrium? They're giving a press conference that needs some help. I'd like you to get us there as silently as you can under my invisibility cloak. I don't want them to see us. But if we should get noticed, you'll need to get us out of there right away. I don't want you to leave my side. Can you do this?"

Winky's eyes widened. When she spoke it was in a hushed tone. "Oh, yes, Harry Potter, sir! Winky be sticking to you as spellotape!"

Harry smiled at her and covered the both of them with the cloak. In just a moment they popped away.

Harry tried to quickly get his bearings. He was behind Madman Umbridge and to the left in a cleared spot on the platform. He focused back on what she was saying.

"…goblins taking jobs away from wizards. We need to protect our customs and the treaty of 1742 only specifies they were handle to currency within the bank. Now on to the centaur question…" Harry grinned. "…The Centaur Liaison Office has reported that they have received no word of objection to my suggestions…" Harry knew this was because the centaurs refused to have anything to do with the Centaur Liaison Office. "If we can obtain a clear record of…"

Harry started to softly make clip clop noises with his tongue. He could see Umbridge straighten up and start to subtly look around. Harry stopped and moved over to the right. Umbridge started speaking again with her voice at a slightly higher pitch. Harry, again, started with the sounds. She started shifting restlessly from foot to foot. He watched as her hands started to creep up to her hair and start tugging it down to cover her ears. Her movements started to become jerky and her words less focused.

"…Yes, once we obtain a clear number on how many of those half-breeds there are we can start to control those…Did I say control? I meant to say 'communicate'. Yes, communicate our wishes and impose our rule on those uncontrolled animals as we should have been doing all along." She was breathing heavier and heavier. "They have not been grateful at all for the gracious permission to use the Ministry's lands. They have no respect for Law Fifteen B or Ministry authority. But they shall! They shall learn that Delores Umbridge will not put up with what they did to me. Wizards are the rulers. Not Goblins. Not Werewolves. Not Centaurs. They supposedly have some sort of intelligence, but I do not see it!"

Delores Umbridge continued to pull at her hair with both hands and started to just mumble incoherent words and phrases. Horatio Blythefield finally stepped up to Umbridge and pulled her off to the side. He basically shoved her into a seat and strode back to the microphone.

"Obviously Madam Umbridge is in distress. I believe that I, as Senior Undersecretary needs to fulfill my duty and step into the Ministerial position."

Delores snapped out of it and screamed with rage. "Traitor! Backstabber! How dare you try to take MY position. _I_ was the one who approached _you_ with the plot on how to control Cornelius and that Potter pain-in-the-arse! How dare you even think to move me aside. Crucio!"

Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. He knew she was unbalanced but to do an unforgivable during a press conference? Aurors quickly swarmed her and Blythefield was helped back to his feet as restraints were placed on his wrists. Harry decided to take this moment to reveal himself. He was at the back of the platform shielded from view by the sign describing the future fountain to be replaced.

"Stay alert, Winky. We're going public."

Harry stepped out into view on the platform and strode towards the microphone. The crowd had been buzzing with noise after the events they had just witnessed. A hush fell over the crowd as Harry stepped up to the microphone.

"Excuse me. I'm Harry Potter. I hope it's obvious to everyone that Minister Fudge and I were right leave St. Mungo's. St. Mungo's is a wonderful facility and has great caretakers, but there was one who was corrupted and took advantage of his position. Right now I'm hoping Minister Fudge will forgive me, but Tiz? Could you bring him here to the Ministry atrium? Minister you are needed."

Everyone held their breath as the seconds ticked by. Suddenly there was a loud crack and a small house elf was holding the hand of the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. He obviously hadn't been expecting this and was running his fingers through his hair trying to straighten it. Finally he took a deep breath and made his way over to Harry.

Harry spoke to the Minister. "The people need direction, sir. You need to take back the control."

Harry stepped back out of the limelight and let it shine on Cornelius Fudge. All eyes were on him. He cleared his throat.

"I will resume the post of Minister at this time insofar as it removed Delores Umbridge and Horatio Blythefield from power. However, I am still recovering and will be for some time yet from what they did to me. I will ask the next in line, Albus Dumbledore, to start easing into the position of Interim Minister until elections can be held." Harry thought that seemed to have been very hard for the Minister say, especially the concession to Dumbledore.

Heads started to swivel and Harry noticed that Professor Dumbledore was standing with others wearing Wizengamot robes. He smiled at them and somehow projected his voice to carry across the atrium.

"I respectfully decline the position and let it fall to Amelia Bones, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement as she is the next in succession. I know she will do an admirable job working with Cornelius and representing the people's interests."

Amelia Bones was standing near the aurors remaining after Umbridge and Blythefield had been taken away. She stepped up to the platform and approached Minister Fudge at the microphone. She simply said in her deep voice, "I accept the position."

The Press Conference was over. Rita Skeeter, who had been released by the aurors, made her way over to Harry who was watching the aftermath with a smile. "Quite a show, eh? That took some guts to get close enough to crack her mask."

"Not too much. I had complete confidence in my escape route." He smiled down at Winky who beamed up at him. He looked back at Rita with a smile. "I reckon you did a good job on shaking up the world."

Rita gave a satisfied smirk. "I can write my own ticket now."

Harry looked at her. "Thanks."

"This was my pleasure. It was a once-in-a-lifetime story."

Harry laughed. "At least I hope so."

Rita walked away and Harry waited near the Minister. Amelia Bones finished talking and left to start to arrange details for the transfer to the Minister's office.

There were two young women near Minister Fudge who seemed to want to fuss over him. He looked up and saw Harry nearby. "Harry. Come here and meet my daughters. Clorinda and Mallory."

Harry smiled and said, "You'll be able to go home now."

"Yes. I shall be glad of it. I still cannot believe Dumbledore refused the position. You were right. I didn't believe it, but then it has become clear that I haven't believed much of what I should and believed too much I shouldn't."

"You can change that now."

"I have thought a lot over these past few days. I am tired. Once Amelia is comfortable I shall retire from the scene. I doubt I will be needed much. Percy Weasley could be a larger help to her than I believe I will be." At Harry's look, he continued. "I don't mean I shall ignore politics altogether. No. But I shall not take on a leadership role any longer. I will not run for re-election."

"Well. I wish you well, Minister. Do you want me to ask Justina to stop by your home to see you settled? She and Percy will be able to go home now, too."

"That would be nice. She could instruct my house elves on what my schedule is that she had devised." He thought for a moment then continued, "Also please send Mr. Weasley. Tell him to stop by my office and pick up any paperwork on these proposed laws. I will need forms to rescind them and…maybe a few others. He will know which forms I need." He looked sideways at Harry. "That werewolf friend of yours is a frightfully bright fellow, isn't he? He asked intelligent questions yesterday." He gave a mock glare at Harry. "I am a bit tired now. I believe I will go home. I hadn't exactly meant to be making a public appearance today."

Harry grinned at him. "Something needed to be done quickly and only you could do it. And you did it well, sir." The Minister nodded an acknowledgement then moved off with his daughters. Harry looked down and saw Tiz had joined him and Winky. He was about to ask Winky to take him home when he heard his name called.

"Mr. Potter," Harry looked over and saw Ragnok walking towards him. He felt both house elves stiffen and move slightly in front of him.

"Ragnok. It's good to see you."

"The pleasure is mine I'm sure." Harry inwardly grinned. The words were right, but somehow the way the goblin said them made him think of how Snape would say them. Sarcastic to say the least.

"What can I do for you?" Harry figured maybe he'd better let him cut right to the chase.

"You may not be aware, but goblins can see through invisibility cloaks. What were you doing up there?"

"I was listening to this on the wireless and wasn't pleased with how it was going. I was afraid she was going to discredit Rita Skeeter and manage to stay in office and keep me on the run. There is no way that such a short-sighted and bigoted woman should be in such a position of power. I figured I had to try something. Fortunately when I came she started talking about the centaurs. Happily, I am aware of the secret that she is deathly afraid of them. So I made this noise." Harry demonstrated.

The goblin smiled a wicked smile. "…and she did the rest."

Harry nodded his agreement. "She definitely showed her true colors. She went a bit further than I expected. I wasn't surprised she would try _Crucio_. She was going to use it on me once last year. But I was surprised she actually did it so publicly."

The goblin made his laughing noise. "You are full of surprises, Mr Potter. Now on to business. Would it be possible to meet with you tomorrow? We need to finalize some details on The Fund."

Harry hesitated. He glanced in the direction he had last seen Professor Dumbledore. "It could probably be arranged, but even though I don't have to hide any longer, I am still not encouraged to go about in public much." Harry grinned sheepishly. "Of course, some times I just lose my temper and crash Press Conferences."

"Griphook and I could come to you if that would be more convenient."

Harry relaxed some. "That would be better. Do you need me to send someone to show you where I live?"

Ragnok shook his head. "When you authorized for knowledge of you account, we also obtained the knowledge of you home location. All you will need to do is allow us entry through any protective wards you have in place."

"Great. Just let me know what time and everything can be set."

A/N – Thanks to Jeff for letting us know that we mis-posted chapter 3. Originally these were much smaller chapters and we've been combining them to form larger chapters, but missed a whole section that should have been at the beginning of Chapter 3. It is there now. Sorry for any confusion.


	14. Relationships

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett. Anyone guess what movie?

Chapter 14 Relationships

When Harry awoke the next morning, he thought the house seemed extra quiet. He knew it was mostly his imagination. Percy, Justina and Minister Fudge had all left the day before, but Remus and all the house elves were still there. The house elves were just very good at not being heard. Well, most of them except Tiz. Every so often you could hear a crash when she broke something. They were seldom seen as well unless he specifically was looking for them. Even after the couple of weeks he'd been living here, he still wasn't sure when they cleaned certain rooms. He assumed it must mostly be done at night.

Harry smiled with contentment as he enjoyed a few more minutes in his bed. Life was good again. Professor Dumbledore had stopped by after he'd made the appointment to see Ragnok this afternoon and advised him that it might be best if he returned to his home. He had asked if Harry would like to move to the other house as it was a bit more secure, but Harry declined. He'd told him that except for the Weasley's, he'd rather just stay where he was. Professor Dumbledore looked thoughtful and then had told him to wait a couple of days and he'd see what the situation looked like. He'd get a message to him with Fawkes if he would be allowed to stay at the Burrow.

Returning home Harry had still been flying high on the thought that he might get to spend a couple days at the Burrow. He saw his friends almost every day, but once noon came, they always had to leave. Harry wanted to be able to do things with his friends then, too. He hated to admit it, but he felt a little left out. He wouldn't mind if they had to de-gnome the garden in the afternoons as long as he could do it with them.

Everyone started talking at once when Harry had appeared. He was able to quiet them down and pass along Minister Fudge's 'requests', which sounded a lot more like orders. Justina couldn't believe it when Harry added for her to pack up all the stuff in the Lab to take along with her, as it was all hers now. Chaos reigned for a while as Percy and Justina scrambled to get their belongings in order so they could leave. Percy arranged for Hermes to go ahead to his apartment and started to gather the supplies for Delores together while Justina started to pack up the rest of the laboratory items. Harry was glad Percy planned to take Delores with him. He didn't want any reminders of Umbridge around if he could help it.

Finally they were gone and it was just Harry and Remus. Remus had been oddly quiet throughout the pandemonium. Harry looked at him cautiously then ducked as Remus exploded.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING! You went there while she was speaking, didn't you! You were probably standing just inches away from her. Do you think you're invincible? If she or that Blythefield got their hands on you they would have forced you to really lose your mind if not your life! How could you go and do something that stupid?" Remus started pacing back and forth.

Harry protested, "I had the invisibility cloak and Winky. At the first sign of trouble she would have brought me back here."

Remus turned to face him with a glare. "And if you and Winky had been stunned? It only takes a second to stun someone. They could easily have excused doing that in front of everyone 'for your own good'! She did the Cruciatus curse on that fellow. What if you had been in the way? You know that if she'd known you were there she would have done it to you, don't you?"

"But I'm fine, Remus! Everything turned out all right."

"…Not to mention the Death Eaters. Lord Voldemort always has his spies at any Ministry Press Conference. But did you return right away? Noooo!"

Harry wasn't sure where all this was coming from. "What's wrong, Remus? Was what I did that bad? I was just trying to help."

"What's wrong? What's _wrong_? I turned to say something to you and you were gone. I just knew…_knew_ you must have gone there. Once again, something was going on and there was nothing I could do. I just had to wait and listen. Just like that night of the full moon. And what was I listening to? A madwoman throwing unforgivables around when I knew you were there somewhere! Then, just as calmly as you please, after all the chaos that went on, you speak into the microphone and call Fudge to you! You didn't need to go there!" Remus continued to rant and rave at him.

Harry started to understand a little. Remus had been scared for him just like the night he freed Grimmauld Place from the house elf heads. Harry couldn't stop a small smile from appearing on his face. Remus was yelling at him because he cared. Just like someone who truly was part of your family would do.

Remus saw the smile and wasn't amused. "What are you smiling about?"

Harry walked over to him and put one arm around him and gave a light squeeze. "I'm sorry if I worried you. I felt I should go, that I could help if I did. I knew how to push her buttons and she needed to crack in public for her to be removed from office quickly. If there's a next time, I promise I'll try to talk to you first."

Remus closed his eyes. The wind seemed taken out of his sails. "All right. I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"I'm not." Remus looked surprised at Harry's reply. "I know you did it because you care. Before only my friends have done that for me."

Remus looked at him, and then gave him a return squeeze around the shoulders. Harry decided to change the subject. "By the way, Fudge thinks you're a 'frightfully intelligent fellow'. You impressed him the other night. When he was talking about repealing Umbridge's proposals, he also talked of repealing more. Maybe he'll do something about all those werewolf restrictions. Wouldn't that be great?"

Remus allowed himself to be distracted and smiled. "Sure would. I'll wait until I see it, though. Sometimes it's easier to get a restriction put in place than it is to remove it."

Harry frowned. "If he does get the 'Auror bring in for any reason' thing removed, what does that mean for you and the others?"

"I'm not sure. We escaped from a Ministry holding cell, but we had never been arrested, just brought in for questioning; regardless of the fact they never asked us any questions. Hopefully, it would mean that things could be just as before. I don't think they would press charges in that situation. I'll have Professor Dumbledore find out for sure, though, before I walk down Diagon Alley."

* * *

Harry smiled again as he remembered how he and Remus spent the rest of the day together. He hoped that Remus could be free. He wanted to stay at the Weasley's, but not if it meant he had to leave Remus alone. He'd have to wait and see.

Harry got out of bed and got dressed. It amused him that Fossa always knew when he entered the loo in the morning. Whenever he came back out, there was an outfit lying out for him on the bed.

Harry made his way to the trunk. Hermione had returned to her home with her parents the day before. Their week at the Burrow was over. Ron and Ginny came down after a short while. Ron started the interrogation.

"Dad said you caused quite a stir at the Ministry yesterday. Wish we'd heard it on the wireless, but we weren't listening. Did you really go there and destroy Umbridge?"

Harry laughed and told them what happened. Their reactions were as predicted when he got to the part where Umbridge fired the unforgivable. They started in on him. Ginny first. "Oh, Harry, that was really dangerous. What if it had hit you?"

"No kidding, mate! Good thing you were using the cloak. She wouldn't've cared about that Blythefield fellow if she'd seen you."

Ginny was sitting with her hand in front of her mouth, with wide eyes. "Good thing Mum didn't know about it 'til it was over. You would've gotten a howler for sure. If I'd known what you were doing I think I'd send you one myself."

Harry got a small, contented grin on his face. "That's okay. I got an 'in person' one from Remus. He must've yelled for five minutes."

Ron looked confused. "And you're happy about this?"

Ginny seemed to understand, though. "That's great, Harry."

Ron looked even more confused. "Great? What am I missing here?"

Ginny took hold of his arm. "Ron, if it was you, what would Mum or Dad do when you got back?"

"Yell, of course. But what…?"

"Why do they yell?"

"I reckon because they care…oh, I get it." He looked over to Harry. "Good for you, mate."

"Yeah." Harry continued to tell them the rest of the details except the part about his appointment with Ragnok, finishing with Dumbledore possibly letting come to the Burrow for a couple of days. They seemed pleased with that possibility. "It'll depend on what happens with Remus, though, too. I don't want to leave him alone in hiding if I can help it."

Ginny understood. "Of course not."

Harry felt the conversation had been too much on him and decided to change the subject. "So, Ginny, did the photo turn out? Were you able to see how you look when you transform?"

Ginny flushed. Harry could see the red creep all the way down her throat and disappear down her robe. "Yeah. I saw the photo."

"I wouldn't mind seeing it myself. I haven't seen much of myself when I've changed. I wouldn't mind having a copy of it."

Ginny seemed a bit panicked. "I could take a photo of you sometime. This one didn't turn out all that well."

Ron joined in shaking his head, "She won't even let me see that photo. Dunno. I reckon her feathers were in a mess or something. She's very protective of it. Who can figure girls?"

Ginny glared at him, but Harry shrugged. He would've liked seeing the photo, but if Ginny was embarrassed by it for some reason, he'd let it go. "So Ginny, have you changed yet since the first time?"

She looked uncomfortable. "No. Not yet. I know you said it only hurt the first time, but I just can't help but feel reluctant to try again. It was rather overwhelming."

"Oh, you've got to try. Go get your cloaks and come on up to my place. Trust me on this. You'll love it. Ron can use my Firebolt and you can see how fast you can fly."

That was enough to convince Ron and he took off up the ladder to grab their cloaks. He was back in a moment corralling Ginny towards Harry's ladder. Sooner than any of them realized, they were out on the front lawn of Harry's property.

Ron was getting impatient. "Come on, Ginny. I'll race you! Transform already!"

Ginny was still reluctant. "I just don't know…"

Harry put a hand on her shoulder and turned her to face him. "I'll be right here every step of the way. I promise it will be all right. Trust me?"

She stared back at him. "Yes…."

Harry smiled at her. "Follow me." He transformed into Flame. He looked up at Ginny. She took a deep breath and transformed into a slate-blue falcon with reddish-brown markings. She hesitated a moment as if waiting for the pain then gave a joyful squawk and took off to the sky.

Harry distantly heard an "All right!" from Ron as he followed Ginny into the air. She was fast. Faster than Harry was. Harry was soon passed by Ron on the Firebolt. Harry felt like laughing. He enjoyed watching Ron and Ginny having fun in the sky. Eventually he got to where they were flying around each other.

Ginny noticed him and started circling him as well. /Where have you been/

/Where have _I_ been? What happened to following me/

/Oh, pish. This is wonderful, Harry. You were right/

/I'll race you back to the ground. Then you and Ron can test out different things/

/Race? Against you? In case you haven't noticed I've been leaving you in the dust/

Ron flew over at that moment. "What are you guys talking about? I wish I could understand you."

Harry flew in a circle and dipped down in a shallow dive. "You want to land? Already?"

/Well, I'm ready if you are, Flame. Ready, set, go/

Harry and Ginny dove towards the ground. Ginny immediately took the lead. Ron belatedly started his descent and soon passed Harry again. Harry laughed to himself then flashed himself to their take-off point.

As Ginny neared and saw Harry standing there, she gave an indignant squawk. She pulled up with a flick back of her wings then flew straight into a laughing Harry and transformed back, knocking Harry to the ground.

"You cheater! That wasn't fair!" Her fingers started to dig into his sides, finding ticklish spots in revenge.

Harry was laughing even harder. "I never said I would fly!"

Ron pulled up beside them. "What's up?"

Ginny rolled off of Harry and got up, brushing snow off her cloak. "That cheater challenged me to a race to the ground then he flashed instead of flew!"

"Well, it's pretty obvious that you both can fly faster than Flame can. But that doesn't mean I will always be last. I just thought that since it's hard to communicate up there, that we could talk here a minute. Ron, why don't you and Ginny see how fast she can go in a straight line or in a dive?"

They agreed and brother and sister took to the air again. Harry sat on the ground and watched with a huge grin on his face. He watched the two swoop through the air and race each other through the sky. Ron could go faster on the Firebolt in a straight line, but Ginny actually seemed faster in a dive. Her speed seemed to triple when she dove. She folded her wings halfway back and just dropped like a missile. She could also stop on a dime from a full sprint by just snapping her wings back.

Harry joined them again after about a half hour and flew around the face of the cliffs. Eventually they all headed back to the house. All were out of breath and rosy cheeked. Ron came up with the name for her falcon form. "Sky. I reckon it's where you belong when you're like that."

"I'll spell it with an 'e'. I've seen Skye as a girls name before. I like that."

Ginny took a deep breath when they entered the house. "That was so great. It was everything I'd hoped it would be. Thank you, Harry, for pushing me to try it. I think I could just fly all day."

"My pleasure, Ginny. My pleasure." He looked over at the brown-eyed girl. Her hair was tousled from the wind and her eyes were sparkling. Harry thought she looked beautiful. His mind flitted again to what it would be like if she would be his girlfriend.

* * *

Remus seemed rather distracted during lunch and that was fine with Harry. He enjoyed looking through the Potter library and had that morning found the diaries of Harry's great-grandfather, the one who had friends in a werewolf settlement. He was fascinated by the lifestyle from so many years ago. He asked if Harry minded if he borrowed them for a while to read. Harry assured him he didn't mind at all.

As the time for his appointment drew near, Harry headed down to the study. He asked Tubow to show Ragnok and Griphook in when they arrived. Harry had made sure they would have access when they came. He avoided the desk and made himself comfortable on a sofa near the fireplace. He got out a Quidditch magazine and read the breakdown of plays on the recent Wimbourne Wasps and Chudley Cannons game. It wasn't long before Tubow led the two goblins in. They sat in the chairs near the fireplace.

"Ragnok, Griphook, welcome to my home. Would you like anything?"

They refused and got down to business. "Mr. Potter, there are just a few last details needed to be ironed out before The Fund can be fully functional. I would recommend you have at least two people needed to authorize any transaction as a guard against being taken advantage of. I would also like a Gringotts goblin to be involved in each transaction to make sure they are within the guidelines we set out. To begin with it would be me, but eventually I would appoint one of my trusted associates. Albus Dumbledore recommended Mr. Arthur Weasley as the outside person to help guide people and Miss Fleur Delacour has agreed to coordinate the evaluations and training as needed as well as the paperwork. Do you want to be notified and give your approval to each transaction?"

Harry thought for a minute. "I trust Mr. Weasley totally. My knowing about who uses it isn't necessary."

A few more details came up and were decided on. Griphook was taking notes on some parchment while they spoke and finally all the decisions were made. The agreements and outlines of who and how someone should qualify had been written out and these few items were added at the end. As Harry wanted to remain mostly anonymous, Ragnok had him sign their agreement by using his thumbprint.

The goblins were about ready to leave when Harry remembered a question he had wanted to ask. "This has nothing to do with anything we've talked about, but how do you go about attaching a will to your vault?"

Griphook answered him. "The process is simple. When you have one ready you can just give it to me and I will attach it."

"Great. I wrote one out and it's here in the desk somewhere. Let me go get it a minute." Harry hunted through the parchment in a desk drawer. Finally he pulled out the parchment he had written what he wanted on. "It's pretty simple, like Sirius' was. I just used percents for some stuff for my friends and gave the rest to Remus. I wanted to make sure my aunt and uncle don't get anything of mine."

"Your aunt and uncle?"

"They don't know about any of this and if they don't learn of it, they would be more than happy with my just not coming back to them." Harry shrugged and handed the parchment to Griphook. "There was more to it than just that. Being forced to hide from the Ministry gave me time to think of what would happen if Umbridge had been successful in her goal. I decided I should make it clear where I would recommend the house elves to go if they agree. I'm sure Remus would take care of them."

"House elves have no choice of where to go," Griphook pointed out.

"Mine do. I have a friend, Hermione Granger, a very smart witch, who changed the spell so my house elves can leave if they wish to."

"What is the point of having a house elf then?" Harry could hear a bit of a sneer in Griphook's voice. There definitely was a lack of respect between goblins and house elves. Harry knew is was reciprocal from Winky's comments at the World Cup about Dobby being brought in _like a common goblin_ if he didn't settle down.

"They take care of me and I'll take care of them. But I didn't like the idea of all their children being enslaved to mine forever. I've seen how some house elves are forced to live and in case my descendents turn out to be gits, I want the house elves to be able to get out of that situation. I also have a friend who enjoys his freedom. If any of them want to give it a try someday, I want them to be able to. So far none do, but they have the option if they ever want it."

Harry was walking them down to the door when he was suddenly tackled from the side. "Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is so glad to see you!"

"Hey, Dobby. Good to see you. What brings you here?"

"Dobby is bringing four more house elves. They is being with Tubow now. Dobby was waiting for Harry Potter to be done with his meeting."

"Well, we're done. So give me a minute and you can tell me what you've been doing lately."

Dobby grinned up at him. Harry walked with Ragnok and Griphook to the front entrance. The said a final goodbye and Harry was able to spend some time catching up with Dobby. Dobby mentioned that after the Christmas holiday was over, many masters would release house elves that were getting older. Three of the four house elves were losing their magic and one, Grenni's, was almost gone. Dobby felt he could speak freely of this to Harry, even though most house elves would feel it was shameful because he knew Harry didn't mind if the house elf lost his magic. He had wanted Winky even if her magic hadn't been able to come back. If the house elves still wanted to clean, well, Harry had done it the muggle way for years. Eventually Tubow led the four elves to Harry and they went through the ritual. Grenni had tears in his eyes through the whole thing.

The next morning, Ron and Ginny ushered in the New Year by flying with Harry. They played a sort of hide and seek along the cliff. Ginny had very sharp eyesight and could pick out hiding places among the craggy rocks. It was hard to hide from her and hard to find her.

He spent the afternoon with Remus, practicing spells in the gym and playing chess. They also talked over the diaries that Remus had found the day before. Remus had always wondered why James had dared to try the transformation. He felt touched that James had such faith in their friendship to trust that Moony wouldn't hurt them in his werewolf form. Both were trying not to think of what the Ministry might do to Remus' future when the Ministry re-opened after the holiday.

Thursday morning was snowy. A chill wind came from off shore and blew up a storm. Harry, Ron and Ginny spent the early part of the morning in the trunk. Harry was showing them some of the things Remus had been teaching him and they were doing a sort of three-way duel.

In the late morning, Fossa appeared in the trunk. "Harry Potter, sir, you is wanted by Professor Dumbledore."

Harry put his wand back in the holster and met the hopeful eyes of the Weasley's. "If Remus…." He didn't know quite how to finish his sentence.

Ron shooed him away. "Go on. No point thinking about it right now I reckon. You can find out for sure what's going on if you just go." Harry gave him a smile and left.

* * *

Harry met up with Professor Dumbledore and Remus in the waiting room. Remus had a big smile on his face and was holding his wand so Harry felt the knot in his stomach loosen a little.

"Harry! Professor Dumbledore just came with my things from the Ministry. He said that the decree for the aurors has been removed and Cornelius Fudge has even worked up a proposal with Percy's help over the holiday to repeal some of the other laws. They haven't been approved yet, of course, and may not be, but it's quite a start." Harry relaxed and smiled at Remus. "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to go to Germany and try to find that colony to let them know what's happened. They'll be able to get their wands back as well." Remus paused and looked at his wand fondly. "You know, I'm grateful that you let me use one of the wands you'd found here, but there is nothing like the feel of your own wand."

"I'm happy for you. Of course, you must go."

Professor Dumbledore turned to him. "You, too, may leave and go to the Weasley's if you wish for the remainder of the holiday."

Harry gave a whoop and a jump. "When do we go?"

* * *

Harry and the house elves packed for his stay at the Burrow and his later return to school. He was happy. He always loved to stay with the Weasley family. He was also glad that Remus could be on the move again. He could tell that Remus had been beginning to feel the caged feeling that Sirius had felt the year before. Harry was quite familiar with that feeling himself so he recognized it in others.

Harry and Remus stared at each other when it was time to say goodbye. Remus came over and gave Harry a hug. "It's been great to spend so much with you, but I know you'll do well by your friends. Remember, I've got the mirror back so keep in touch."

Harry grinned at him. "I'll do that. See you later, Remus."

* * *

Grissom brought Harry to the Burrow. Ron and Ginny were waiting for him. Harry immediately was brought upstairs to Ron's room. He felt like he could just sit here and soak in the atmosphere of the Burrow. It was such a homey place and very down to earth. He imagined it felt to him like Godric's Hollow felt like to his grandparents. He liked his house, too, but there really wasn't that much for him to do. He wasn't allowed to pitch in to help whereas here at the Burrow, it was almost expected that he should.

Ron, Ginny and Harry took their brooms and went flying over their make-shift Quidditch pitch, practicing some chaser/keeper moves. Harry tried to fill in as chaser, but realized he was quite out-classed by Ginny. She was nice about it, though, and didn't rub it in _too_ much. Harry liked that, too. She wasn't afraid to tease him or yell at him if he took a dunderheaded shot that never had a chance at success. They all had fun until the steadily heavier falling snow forced them inside.

After some lunch and hot chocolate, Mrs. Weasley set them to work on some light chores around the house. When they were finished, Harry and Ron went up to his room. Ron said he would figure out how to write a letter to Hermione to let her know what's going on without really saying anything outright. It would take some thinking, but he figured he could do it somehow. He told Harry he'd let him read it when it was finished. Harry took a Quidditch magazine and left him to concentrate on it. Harry settled in the living room in a corner. He started flipping through the pages when he heard Mrs. Weasley's and Ginny's voices floating out from the kitchen.

"So tell me, Ginny, who is this Alan who just wrote to you? Is he a boyfriend?" Harry's ears perked up. He hadn't known Ginny had another boyfriend.

"No, but I think he wouldn't mind becoming one. He's a Hufflepuff in my year. We're in Herbology together. We were assigned a project together and it's just kind of grown from there. I'm not sure, though. I don't think I feel for him like I should feel for a boyfriend. He seems more of a friend."

Harry started to breathe again. He hadn't realized he'd been holding his breath while he listened. If Ginny did start dating this Hufflepuff, she'd probably distance herself from them again like she had when she hung around with Dean. Harry had missed her then. He imagined that a boyfriend would not be thrilled with her exercising with him or flirting with him.

"Well, dear, you know your own heart best. But remember, dating isn't a lifelong commitment. Dating is just getting to know one another better to see if a commitment could be a future possibility. Are you going to reply to that letter?"

"No. We'll be returning to Hogwarts in just two days. I'll see him then."

Harry decided he'd heard enough and thought he'd head back upstairs to Ron. When he entered the room, Ron was still busy at the desk.

"Hey, Harry, how's this? 'We have a Flame here in the fireplace to keep us warm.' D'you think she'd get that? She is pretty smart, ya know."

"Anybody else, I'd have to say no, but this _is_ Hermione. She probably would understand." Harry started to fidget. "Say, Ron, you know Hannah and Ernie? They're dating now, right?"

Ron looked up at Harry a bit puzzled. "Yeah, so?"

"Well, they were friends for a long time first. Do you think many people date that started out as just friends?"

"At least some. My Aunt Bertha and Uncle Bilius had been friends since they were children. They ended up getting married. Why'd ya ask?"

"Say I know this bloke…he likes this girl, but he's been friends with her for quite a while…." Harry paused trying to think of how to say this without Ron catching on to it being himself he was talking about. "Do you think he should do something about it, even if he's not sure if she feels anything more back? Or should he just stay with how things are, even if she might start dating someone else?"

Ron looked at him suspiciously. "What do you know? We finally got rid of Vicky. Is Hermione going to start dating some other bloke? Who?" Ron was starting to get agitated. He looked at his letter with an expression somewhere between panic and a demand to tell him who she thought of dating.

"Hermione! I don't want to date Hermione." It took Harry a minute to figure out where that leap had come from.

"You? I thought you were talking about me." Ron flushed a bright red color. Harry raised his eyebrows. "If you weren't talking about Hermione, who were you talking about then?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Ginny."

Ron's face broke out into a huge grin. "All right!" Now it was Harry's turn to blush. He gave a sheepish grin at Ron. Ron suddenly frowned. "You think she's going to start dating someone else?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably again. "I heard her and your mum talking in the kitchen. Apparently she just got a letter from a bloke named Alan from Hufflepuff and your mum was asking if he was a boyfriend. Ginny said no, but that he wanted to be. Your mum said something about giving it a chance or something."

"She _what!_! Why would she say something like that? I'll have to have a talk with that woman, I will. Telling Ginny to date some other bloke…." Ron started muttering about his mum losing it and giving out rubbish advice.

Harry had to smile at Ron's reaction. "Well, she didn't know I was there or that I sort of liked Ginny. I mean, I've liked her for a while now, but I just wasn't sure, you know?"

Ron shot a look at Harry. Now he was more defensive of his sister. "Not sure of what?"

"There is the whole Voldemort thing." Harry thought he'd get the obvious one out of the way.

"Ginny would understand about that. You dated Cho last year. What's different?"

Harry gave Ron an '_it should be obvious'_ look. "I didn't know about the prophecy then, now did I?"

"That's true. But Ginny would understand. You know she would. So what weren't you sure about?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It wasn't only that. You like Hermione, right? Why haven't _you_ done anything about it?"

Ron shifted uncomfortably and wouldn't look at Harry. He hadn't expected to be asked anything back. "Well, it's different for me. She's one of my closest friends. Closer than what Ginny has been to you. If something went wrong…." Ron started breathing faster. Finally he continued in a quieter voice, "I just don't know what I'd do if I lost her friendship." He looked up at Harry. "Or I could even lose yours. If you had to choose between us…one of us could be totally alone. I wouldn't want that for either me or Hermione."

"My friendship with Ginny hasn't been as deep as ours, but if something went wrong, I could lose your family. I don't know if you could understand what that would mean to me."

Ron's eyes turned to Harry. His eyes narrowed and unfocused as he tried to think through how that would affect Harry. He slowly nodded. "I can't know exactly, but I have an idea. I guess you have it as hard as I do. But you think you might be willing to risk it?"

Harry half shrugged. "Percy said something a while back. I think he guessed I felt something more for Ginny. He said that if you take it slow, even relationships that don't work out usually end up okay. He said he could still easily go to Penelope's parents' house and they'd be fine with that. And your mum said something about dating was really just to get to know each other better to see if it could go into a longer relationship or something. That kind of made me think that maybe it would be all right even if things didn't work out. What do you think?"

Ron was thinking hard. "I dunno. I'd have to think on it a bit. Maybe."

Ron returned to staring at the letter he was writing and Harry sat on his bed, thinking. Even if he did somehow come up with the courage to ask Ginny to go out with him, how did one go about it? He shook his head. Cho had done all the pursuing before. He gave a light snort. That was a bit of an understatement. It wasn't like he could ask her to a Hogsmeade weekend right away. The next wouldn't be for over a month. Most 'couples' he knew of mostly just hung out together. They already did that somewhat. So what was different? He wasn't sure, but he knew something was.

* * *

Harry was a little uncomfortable over the next day. He kind of regretted his conversation with Ron. At times when the three of them were together Ron would look at Ginny and Harry and zone out with a silly sort of grin on his face. Harry felt like whacking the back of his head when he did this, but didn't feel he could in front of Ginny. He did when they were alone, however.

Finally, Harry decided to just bite the bullet and take a chance. Saturday morning Ron was busy doing his last minute packing and Harry and Ginny were passing the time in the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was helping Ron track down his scattered belongings.

Harry was afraid it would sound stupid but decided to ask anyway. "Ginny, would you sit with me on the train back to Hogwarts?"

He was right. It sounded totally stupid. But how did you ask a girl to go out when there was nowhere to go? Ginny looked at him as if he were a little strange. Then she tilted her head and seemed to hear the words replay in her mind. Her gaze narrowed on Harry and noticed his nervousness. She started to get a strange look in her eye that Harry couldn't interpret.

"Are you asking that I sit by you as opposed to sitting with you and the rest of the group?"

Harry supposed her question was just as confusing as his had been, but he thought she understood what she had meant.

"Er…yeah." Harry could feel his face heating up.

"Like a date?" Her face started to flush and her eyes were very intense on his face.

Harry did a sort of helpless shrug. "Yeah."

Ginny suddenly smiled. "Yes, Harry. I'd love to sit with you on the train."

Harry couldn't help but smile, too, but he suddenly didn't know what to do with himself. "Okay then. I guess I'll go see if I can help Ron track down his stuff." One last smile at Ginny and Harry headed upstairs. Ron noticed him enter the room.

"Oi, Harry, I can't find my Quidditch playbook!" Ron was hunting through a pile of papers in a corner of his room.

Mrs. Weasley didn't seem to have much sympathy. "Well, if you wouldn't leave your room in such a mess, maybe you'd be able to find your things! We need to be leaving in ten minutes. If you don't have it by then, you'll just have to do without."

Harry spotted a corner of it sticking out from under Ron's bed. "There it is." He pointed it out and Ron whirled and heaved a sigh of relief.

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Ten minutes. Be downstairs and ready to go." She left the room.

Ron picked up his book and threw it in his opened trunk. "I think that's it." He looked over at Harry who still had a smile on his face. "What's up?"

"I talked with Ginny." Ron's eyes got bigger.

"…and…?"

"Well, it wasn't a talk so much as I asked her to sit with me on the Hogwarts Express and she agreed."

Ron frowned in confusion. "But she often sits by us on the train."

Harry shook his head. "No. I asked her to sit by _me_, not us. I think she understood because she asked, '_like a date_?'"

Ron looked thoughtful. Harry knew he was probably thinking about Hermione. Mrs. Weasley's voice floated up the stairs. "Boys? You need to get your trunks downstairs now. It's time to go!"

Ron closed up his trunk. Harry already had his shrunk. The two boys headed down the stairs.

Mrs. Weasley's face was beaming. She had one arm tucked around Ginny and she smiled fondly at Harry as he passed. Harry figured Ginny must have told her. They found a Ministry car parked outside and Harry helped Ron heave his trunk into the boot of the car. The teens sat in the back of the car while Mrs. Weasley sat in the front next to the driver. Harry and Ron had outside seats with Ginny sitting in the middle. Harry and Ginny exchanged smiles again and Ginny reached her hand over and took Harry's. All too soon they reached Kings Cross Station and a trolley was found for Ron's trunk.

Once they crossed the barrier, Ron started looking around for Hermione. Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a hug and ruffled his hair. She looked extremely happy and ready to cry at the same time. They ran into Neville and Luna and they went to show Ron which compartment they had found so Ron could stow his trunk. Harry and Ginny would keep watch for Hermione.

Several people curious to find all what happened to Harry over the break greeted them. Harry was still holding hands with Ginny. Hermione came up to them and Ginny dragged her away to the compartment. Hannah and Ernie came by as Harry was watching her go. Hannah smiled at Harry. She pointedly looked at Ginny's retreating form and then at Ernie. "It's been a good year, hasn't it?"

Harry agreed wholeheartedly. "One of the best." Several people close enough to hear their conversation looked at them like they were crazy.

* * *

Harry was feeling good. The people coming up to him wanting to talk about what happened during the holiday break were annoying, but overall he felt the day couldn't get much better. He was losing his nervousness around Ginny and her holding his hand or touching his arm was beginning to feel natural. When Hermione had realized, she couldn't be held down. "I knew it. I just knew it. Did you show him the picture, Ginny?"

Harry looked inquisitively at Ginny. She had flushed a deep red again. "No, Hermione, and I hadn't been planning to."

"Oh, but it's so cute! If you two are together now you can show him."

Ginny just gave the other girl a half-hearted glare.

Harry's interest was caught. "Are you talking about the picture of Skye?"

Hermione looked confused for a moment, as did Neville and Luna. Ron jumped in and explained. "That's what I named her." He jabbed a thumb in Ginny's direction. "She's a falcon. Not only is she a bit on the blue side color-wise, but she belongs in the sky. You should see her fly! C'mon, Ginny. Show us the picture. Who cares if your feathers are mussed?"

Luna added her persuasion. "Ginny, you've developed a special gift. There's nothing to be embarrassed about. We're all friends here. I'd love to see what you look like."

Ginny shifted uncomfortably. "Couldn't I just transform here? You could see in person instead of in some silly photo."

Hermione put her hands on her hips. "I don't think it would be wise to transform here on the train. Anybody can see in. And the photos aren't silly." Hermione grinned. "They're cute."

Ginny groaned. "This is embarrassing." She set her trunk on the floor and enlarged it. She opened the top and withdrew a small bundle wrapped in cloth. She held it close to her chest for a moment and took a deep breath before pulling one picture out. She looked at it briefly with a face full of mixed emotions before she laid it flat on the top of the trunk. Everyone leaned forward to look at it. In the picture there was only one animal…Flame. Flame was just sitting there looking a little defensive towards the camera. Every so often he would look down towards his wing.

Neville turned to Ron. "I thought you said she was blue? That's a phoenix, not a falcon."

Harry looked at Ginny in confusion. "That's me. Where are you?" Ginny put her hands up to cover her face in mortification.

Hermione broke in with a smile in her voice. "You have to remember that these were taken soon after Ginny transformed for the first time. She wasn't feeling the best." Hermione took her wand and started poking at Flame. "Come on, Flame. Move aside. Let her out."

The phoenix in the picture jumped at Hermione's prodding and threw a nasty look out of the picture. Harry hadn't realized that his phoenix form could throw a glare like that. His feathers ruffled and his wings started to flutter at the prodding. Suddenly Harry's attention was caught by a slight figure in the shadow of his wing. A bird's head started to poke out. Hermione kept prodding the phoenix away until the little falcon (little compared to the size of the phoenix) was totally out from under the wing. The phoenix was not happy with being held away by Hermione's wand.

Harry didn't see why Ginny was embarrassed. _He_ was embarrassed. He knew he had felt very protective of Ginny at that time, but never realized it would be so obvious in the picture Hermione took.

"Look at her wings." Hermione moved her wand over to give a quick jab at Skye and she opened her wings up to flap at her. Hermione was right. The falcon seemed to be all wings. She had a slight body and not much tail to speak of, but very long wings. The way her shoulders went straight across then the wings swept back, gave her an anchor shape as she flew. As Hermione had left the phoenix alone for a minute to prod at Skye, Flame suddenly hopped back behind the agitated falcon and spread his own wings. His wingspan was probably a foot and a half longer, but being such a large bird, they looked short by comparison. Skye folded her wings close to her body then seemed to snuggle up to the phoenix, rubbing her head against his breast. That was the last you saw of her as Flame folded his wings back over her and seemed to dare anyone to try to move him again.

Luna and Hermione seemed to love gazing at the picture. Neville and Ron looked over to Harry and he knew he was going to be in for a razzing later that evening. He brought his hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Luna looked to Hermione. "You said pictures. Is there more than this one?"

Harry couldn't remember another picture being taken, but Ron seemed to. "That's right. You took another picture of Harry and Ginny sleeping together."

Harry started coughing. Ginny blushed an even deeper shade of red and she whacked Ron on the back of the head. "You could use some help with the way you word things, you know?" She turned to Neville and Luna. "Harry was still Flame. I had just changed back and was in a lot of pain. Harry let me hold him and we fell asleep after a while."

Hermione smiled in anticipation. "Come show that picture." She turned to the others. "It's very sweet."

Ginny laid the second photo she was still holding to her chest down on top of the first. Ginny was sleeping on her side with her arm cradling a scarlet and gold body. In the crook of her shoulder lay the head of the bird in her arms that also appeared to be sleeping. His long golden tail feathers spread over her lower body like a blanket. Every so often the sleeping girl would give the bird a light squeeze in her sleep. The picture brought to mind the innocence of a young child lovingly holding their teddy bear as they slept.

Luna and Hermione were oohing over this picture as well. Harry decided he probably wouldn't have minded not ever seeing them himself. Well, as long as no one else saw them either. Finally Ginny was allowed to gather them back up and put them back in her trunk.

Ron and Hermione made their excuses to the others. They had to take a shift to patrol the train as prefects.

After they left, Luna gazed at Harry with an unblinking stare. Finally she spoke, "So now that you've sprouted your feathers, have you talked with your adopted mother?"

Harry wasn't sure what she was talking about. "What?"

"You know. Your owl." Luna still was staring at Harry.

"Oh," Harry suddenly remembered from so long ago when Luna said that Hedwig was adopting him and he would be sprouting feathers and be able to understand her. He blinked a couple of times thinking how accurate that prediction turned out to be. It was a little scary. "No, I haven't. Hedwig hasn't been around whenever I've changed. I can understand Ginny when we're both changed, though. I'll have to give it a try."

Luna smiled at him. "Yes. I think she'd like that." Luna then opened a Quibbler and turned it upside down to start reading. Neville looked at Harry and shrugged. He pulled out a _Herbology Today_ to read.

Harry sat back with Ginny. He put one arm around her shoulders as he talked to her quietly. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you in those photographs."

She looked up at him in surprise. "You didn't embarrass me. I embarrassed myself."

"What did you do? I was the one going all protective and defensive. I don't blame you for not liking the photos."

Ginny looked up at him. "See the problem is…I love the photos. But I'm mad at myself for liking them so much." Harry obviously didn't understand. "I don't like being a victim. I swore after my first year that I would never be so needy again. I had wanted so much for someone to talk to or someone to understand…well, you know what happened. After that first transformation I hurt so bad and then you were there and you held me. I see the photos and I see me being weak. But I loved the feeling and I don't like that."

"You're not weak. You're one of the strongest girls I know. You knew it was going to hurt and yet you willingly took on the pain. And no matter what you guys say, I know it's mostly for me. You were hurting. There is nothing wrong with taking comfort when you're hurt. I know I was glad I was there for you, even though I couldn't really do anything for you."

"I think you did more than you know. I felt cared for. That helped a lot."

Harry looked at her seriously. "I do care for you."

Ginny lay a gentle hand on his cheek and pulled his face down to give him a small kiss. As she pulled away she gazed into his eyes for a moment then seemed to give herself a little shake. "Now if only we could get Ron to do something about his feelings. He's so clueless, he probably still doesn't even realize what his feelings are yet."

"He knows exactly what he feels. You need to cut him a little slack. It's not as easy a decision as you may think." Harry then recapped his conversation with Ron, including the advice to take things slowly.

Ginny looked amazed. "You talked to _Percy_ about me?"

"Well, it was rather strange. I couldn't even tell you for sure if he approved or not. I don't know if _he_ even knew how he felt about it."

"Well, you'd have to do something pretty drastic to ever change my Mum's feelings about you and I just don't see that happening. She's over the moon, you know. I told her."

"Yeah, I guessed you did. I'm glad she seemed okay with it."

Ginny lightly punched at him and smiled. "You know, sometimes you are a master of the understatement."

* * *

The rest of the train ride went smoothly. Not much was different than the rides in the past on the outside; Harry lost at chess to Ron, they all told of things that happened during their Christmas break, conversations ebbed and flowed as they did every train ride. Everything was the same, but Harry knew it was different. Different in a good way. He was able to put his arm around Ginny as conversation flowed. When she moved over to talk to Hermione and he was playing chess with Ron, he could catch her eye and just feel a connection.

The feeling followed through with the return to classes. For the most part, things seemed very much the way they had been with the four friends sometimes studying or eating together. But, once again, there was a different feel to it for Harry. Just a knowledge that something had changed.

Of course, then there were the times when they were not with their other friends. Harry had never been so grateful for the trunks as he was when he wanted some place to take Ginny where they could have privacy. Most of the time they just talked about different things, but not always. Harry found that he really liked kissing Ginny. He had to force himself to remember about taking things slow.

It wasn't all that easy to find time for the two of them to be alone, either. The teachers were starting to push the fifth year students harder to prepare them for the OWLs and Harry had his potions tutoring, Occlumency lessons and DA classes on top of his regular homework.

His first time meeting Audra and Blaise for his potions lesson, they, like most of the school, seemed a little unsure of how to treat him. Slowly they started to relax around him again as he continued to act mostly the same as he always had.

After about a half hour into brewing a mild pain relieving potion, Audra commented, "You seem happy."

Harry tilted his head as he thought about it after he finished stirring counter-clockwise while counting out fifty strokes. "I am happy. I've had a good Christmas break."

Blaise let out a snort and looked up from another useless essay he was required to write for their defense class on the benefits of using dragon dung for warding off vampires instead of garlic. "From what I've heard, you were attacked, forcibly held at St. Mungo's, somehow escaped and was on the run for most of the holiday until you managed to overthrow the whole bloody wizarding government! If that's good I'd hate to see what you'd consider a bad time!"

Harry gave a shrug. "It does sound pretty bad when you put it that way. I didn't mean it was all good. There were some tense moments when I wondered if I'd be coming back to school, but overall it was good. I got to see a family reconcile that had been apart for a year, I got to spend some of the time hiding from the Ministry with a good friend of my father's when he turned fugitive, and best of all, Ginny Weasley said she'd date me. It definitely could have been a lot worse. And I wouldn't call it 'overthrowing the government', more of 'reinstating the government'." Harry grinned.

"Don't suppose you'll tell how you did any of that stuff?"

"Rather not. I've been trying to avoid questions like those. Gotta keep some secrets." Harry smiled to let him know it wasn't personal.

Blaise just shrugged and said, "I can respect that."

Audra tsked and drew Harry's attention back to the potion at hand.

* * *

Later in the week as Harry made his way to the Headmaster's office for an Occlumency lesson, he hoped he'd be able to keep his secrets. His home was no longer a secret, but he wondered if the Headmaster would push to learn more of his escape from St. Mungo's and what Harry suspected the Headmaster guessed at Harry's animagus form. So far, the Headmaster didn't try to search for things he thought Harry wouldn't want him to know. But that was before this Christmas break.

As soon as Harry reached the door, he pulled up the phoenix song to the front of his mind, then entered the room. Immediately he was hit with the _Legilimens_ spell. The Headmaster held it for a short while, until he let it go and smiled. Harry finally made his way to his seat.

"Excellent, Harry. You have done an excellent job on defending your mind. I'm going to try again with much more power. Try to hold it up as long as you can."

The old Headmaster raised his wand and said, "_Legilimens_."

Harry could feel the spell slam into his mind. He kept his focus on the phoenix song and was able to keep himself calm and the memories at bay. A bit more strength was put into the spell and Harry could feel some memories floating around the edge of his consciousness, but he focused all the harder on the phoenix song. Harry started breathing hard. It seemed an eternity passed. His head was beginning to ache, but Harry didn't let it distract him. Finally the spell stopped.

Harry took a deep breath and started to relax when the spell hit him again. He saw an image of Remus and the other werewolves at the shrieking shack approaching and he quickly pulled the music to the forefront of his mind. A moment later the spell let up again.

Harry cautiously looked at his Headmaster. He was surprised that he was breathing almost as heavily as Harry was, but he had a pleased smile on his face. "I almost caught you there. I didn't think you'd expect an attack so soon after the other. I am very proud of you, Harry. I was not able to get in and believe me," he winked at Harry over his half-moon spectacles. "I tried."

Harry rubbed his aching head. Even now he didn't dare try to lower his guard. The Headmaster was sneaky enough to try to attack again. "I have to admit you almost did. I could see a memory coming, but I was able to stop it."

The Headmaster clapped his hands together. "That is what counts. You recognized the intrusion. You have mastered this step of Occlumency. You have made great strides over the past few weeks."

Harry frowned. "This step. There's more?"

"I'm afraid there is a great deal more. As I have said, you are doing an excellent job defending your mind against expected attacks. The next step will be to recognize and defend against an unexpected intrusion. To practice this step, I propose to try to catch you off your guard wherever and whenever I can during this next two weeks. We can meet again then to discuss how it is coming along."

Harry realized that he had prepared himself before he came into the room and even when he used it against Blythefield he had time to prepare. Except when he woke up unprepared and got caught.

Harry heard a trill of light laughter coming from behind him. /If you would just stay in your better looking form you wouldn't have to mess with all these spells. Life is much easier as a phoenix. The only troubles are looking out for my chick and some of his flock and burning days. If you want to mess with spells, figure out some way to get rid of burning days/

Harry glanced over at Fawkes and couldn't stop a small smile. The Headmaster also looked over at Fawkes. "Quite chatty all of a sudden, isn't he? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could understand what he says?"

There was something odd in the way Professor Dumbledore said that. Harry started to get nervous and wonder if the Headmaster _could_ understand Fawkes or if it was just his imagination. Dumbledore did seem to give the impression of being able to do and know so many things. Maybe he just suspected Harry could. He wondered if he would get the opportunity sometime to get Fawkes alone and ask him. Harry just gave a sickly smile and nodded.

"You will need to practice constantly maintaining your occlumency in the background of your mind. If we can master this, we can move on to sending misleading memories."

"Misleading memories?"

"One thing at a time. Have a good evening, Harry."

Harry paused for a moment. "Professor, I've been getting flashes of a feeling of anticipation again. Do you have any idea what Voldemort might be planning?"

The old Headmaster drew his brows together. "I do not know. As far as I know, there are no immediate large-scale likely targets. I will keep an eye open for anything, however."

Harry nodded and left. Harry was glad to be excused. He had saved his pain relief potion he brewed earlier in the week with Audra. It was a very mild one that was non-addicting. Even so, he didn't plan on using it often, but he thought his headache tonight warranted it.

* * *

Harry quickly learned that he wasn't as good at Occlumency when he wasn't prepared. As he was listening to Ginny tell of her morning during lunch in the Great Hall the next day he idly glanced around the Hall. He hadn't even realized he'd met eyes with the Headmaster until he noticed he was no longer hearing Ginny but seeing himself and Remus dueling each other at his house over the Christmas break, arriving at the Burrow, Remus yelling at him, Ginny's face as she realized what Harry was trying to ask her about the train…. Finally he was able to pull up the phoenix song and push the Headmaster out.

"…Harry? Harry! Aren't you listening to me?" Ginny's voice was irritated and she took her half eaten roll and threw it at him.

Harry refocused on Ginny. "I can't believe he did that in the middle of the Great Hall! This is the Great Hall! Everybody is here!" Harry was extremely irritated. As much with himself as with the Headmaster. He'd let him slip through.

Ginny's irritation turned to confusion for a moment, then her face cleared. "Professor Dumbledore just did the you know what to you?" she asked in a low voice.

"Yeah. Can you believe it? He got through, too. I never thought he'd try it in here."

"That's probably why he did. At least you didn't have as bad a reaction as you feared." Harry had told his friends what the Headmaster had planned. He also shared his nervousness of him collapsing from it as he often had when he couldn't stop it.

Harry focused hard on Ginny. "What did I do?"

"You just got this unfocused look in your eye for a while. Good thing you had told me about this or I'd be quite mad at you for not listening to me." She gave him a little grin.

Harry's voice was droll as he replied, "No, really? I never would have been able to tell from the way you threw your food at me earlier."

Ginny blushed then tossed her head. "I don't like being ignored."

Harry raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. "I would never mean to do that to you."

* * *

They parted ways after lunch and Harry started for his Transfiguration class. On his way he heard his name called from a nearby empty classroom. Harry turned and his Headmaster beckoned him in for a moment. Harry gave him an irritated glare and entered the room. When the door was closed, Harry started to vent his irritation.

"The Great Hall? Nothing like trying it in front of the entire school! You almost got me in trouble with Ginny, too."

The Headmaster was smiling at him with amusement. He had a knowing twinkle in his eye. "I had confidence that you would be able to stop the attack before anything became too noticeable. And maybe Miss Weasley will give you that extra incentive to stay alert in her presence. She did seem a bit annoyed with your lack of attention."

Harry knew then that the Headmaster witnessed her throwing the roll at him. Harry flushed a little. The Headmaster's twinkle increased a notch. He continued, "Though you did acquit yourself admirably in regaining her favor." His flush turned into a full blush at the knowledge that his kissing her hand had been witnessed as well.

The Headmaster turned a little more serious. "I do have one question, however. I usually do not question you on what I see, but this memory puzzles me. I knew I would most likely get in so I searched for happy memories. One I saw was of Remus being angry with you."

Harry supposed that did seem a bit out of place with the other memories. "It was after I returned from the Ministry. While he was yelling, I realized that was what family would do." Harry shrugged. "I've been yelled at lot in my life, but never for that type of reason."

The Headmaster gave a nod of understanding. "Thank you for clarifying that for me, Harry. I have detained you long enough. You may continue on to your class. Remember, keep up your guard."

* * *

It was surprising how many ways Harry could be ambushed in the halls of Hogwarts. He supposed his Headmaster knew his schedule, but even so…. He wasn't even safe in the Common Room. Harry learned that Professor Dumbledore was very good at being unnoticed when he wanted to be and had managed to get Harry twice while he studied in the Common Room without others even realizing he was there. Harry wasn't able to totally block the attacks but he was getting better at pushing him out after only one memory or so. The attacks were getting stronger, too.

Early the next week, Ron had managed to hold his animating spell for five minutes. Hermione was a bit frustrated. She was close, but not there yet.

Harry tried to calm her. "Hermione, you were the last one to get started on this. We had all been able to practice before you came, remember? And you are over four and a half minutes. It will be soon."

Hermione sighed. "I know. I guess I'm just not used to being last." She gave a self-deprecating laugh.

Ron moved over to her. "Hermione, I can wait. I'll wait until we can change together."

Hermione was shaking her head. "You don't have to do that, Ron. I'm a big girl. I can do it by myself later. You must want to see what your form is."

Ron hesitated for a moment. "Truthfully, I'd rather that you went first for that. Then we could change at the same time."

Hermione's lip began to tremble. "You would do that for me?" She really did hate the idea of being last.

"Of course, I would." Ron and Hermione were staring into each others eyes. Finally they broke eye contact. Hermione had a bemused smile on her face.

"Well, if we do transform together, what are the logistics of that?"

Harry thought for a minute. "I don't think it'd be a problem. I'd be taking care of Ron after and Ginny would you anyway. We'd just be doing it on the same weekend is all."

Ginny looked over at Harry and gave a smile. "It did help to have someone who cared right there."

It was decided. Ron and Hermione would keep practicing until they both were ready. Later, when they were alone, Ginny looked to Harry. "If that turns out to be their first date, it's just really strange."

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Hermione was reading her Daily Prophet. "Listen to this. Umbridge and Blythefield are being moved to Azkaban this afternoon." Harry had a quick regret that the Dementors had left already. He quickly squashed that feeling. It would be enough that she was locked up.

The week earlier, Harry had been called to the Headmasters office to give a statement. He'd been extremely nervous of what they would ask, but all they had asked for was his memories of Umbridge's rambling confession when she thought he was insane. She implicated herself clearly at that time and implied help from St. Mungo's. It was strong circumstantial evidence to link Healer Blythefield as he was the healer that showed up, but to strengthen their case against him, Harry could testify to his saying he needed to get the poison from Umbridge. Pensieve memories were not considered conclusive as testimony, but it was allowed for minors. The memories along with Fudge's testimony and the evidence from Justina Bosworth and other witnesses who had tested the poison were enough to get them convicted the previous day.

There had been banner headlines on the conviction. The article went into the details of how she had used Cornelius' wand to attack him with the cruciatus curse, then poisoned him to give the illusion of him losing his mind and used his wand to send up the Dark Mark to blame the Death Eaters. It had been pretty commonly suspected, but now with the conviction it was put into black and white. Harry was only mentioned once in the article but it was enough to garner him stares throughout the day again. Harry tried his best to ignore it.

He was sitting in the DADA class in the afternoon, letting his mind wander as Professor Vigori flitted from one silly subject to the next when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his scar. He couldn't stop himself from slapping his hand up to his forehead. He closed his eyes and calmed his breathing. He concentrated on what he was feeling. Happiness? Not quite. Satisfaction? That was it. A very strong feeling of satisfaction. It was mixed with something else, though. Justice? That was an odd thought.

He opened his eyes to find the class was dead silent and every eye was on him. The Professor was looking at him curiously. "Mr. Potter, are you feeling well?"

Most of the class was looking with slight curiosity. Ron and Hermione had looks of caution mixed with dread. Blaise was looking more at his friends reactions than him. Malfoy looked suspicious and was checking the time on his watch.

"I have a bit of a headache. Do you mind if I go to Madam Pomfrey?"

"I think you could probably wait until the end of class, don't you, Mr. Potter? There is only another half hour."

Harry was frustrated. He wanted to find Professor Dumbledore but he didn't want to come out and tell the whole class.

Ron leaned over. "You need Dumbledore?"

Harry nodded. Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of candy. He slid it over to Harry. Harry took it and smirked a little. Fainting Fancy. Covertly he brought one end of the candy to his mouth and took a bite.

* * *

The next thing Harry knew was Ron shoving something into his mouth in the hallway. Harry recovered quickly and led Ron to Dumbledore's office. Harry gave the password, Fudge Flies, and they made their way up the spiraling stairs. At the top, before Harry could knock, he was bid to enter.

"What can I do for you, Harry, Ron?" The old Headmaster looked as though he had been working on some correspondence.

"I just got a pain in my scar while in class. With it came the oddest feeling of satisfaction and justice."

"Justice?" That seemed to surprise the Headmaster.

"That's the best I can describe it. I think whatever he had been planning, it just happened."

The Headmaster put his fingertips together and thought for a moment. "Thank you for letting me know. I will get in touch with my contacts and see if anything has happened."

Harry and Ron left the office and just made their way back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry filled Ron in on the phantom feelings he'd been getting off and on. When Hermione and Ginny came he filled them in, too. The whole group went to bed feeling just a bit apprehensive.

* * *

Entering the Great Hall the next morning, Harry glanced up at the Headmaster. He gave a slight nod to Harry and Harry figured that something had, indeed, happened. Now he'd just wait for the owls to deliver the paper to find out what.

When Hermione's _Prophet_ was delivered, she didn't even bother trying to look at it herself. She just cleared a section of the table in the middle and laid the paper out so all four could see.

_**Delores Umbridge and Horatio Blythefield Attacked**_

_**By He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named Himself!**_

_**Yesterday afternoon at 4:30 pm, aurors escorting Delores Umbridge and Horatio Blythefield to Azkaban prison were ambushed by no other than He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and several Death Eaters. You-Know-Who made it clear that this attack was retribution for usurping his own Dark Mark.**_

_**Auror Geoffrey Bernsteiner was left alive to act as witness of the attack. Sadly the other three of the auror guard were killed. "You-Know-Who had them cornered. He had killed the other guards already. He asked how they dared to try to use him and his power. He said they needed to be punished. He decided it would only be just to have themUmbridge and Blythefield suffer the fate they bogusly condemned Minister Fudge and Harry Potter to. He then went on a rant of how he, alone, would be the one to kill Harry Potter. Then he lifted his wand and cursed them with the Cruciatus Curse. Madam Umbridge was first. I'll never forget her screams. When he finally stopped he started on Mr. Blythefield. I just kept praying that it would end. There is no way possible that they have any mind left. Finally he turned his wand on me and I knew no more."**_

_**It has been confirmed that Delores Umbridge and Horatio Blythefield have been admitted into the St. Mungo's Long Term Care ward. There has been no report of any hope for their recovery.**_

"Well, that explains the strange emotions." Harry said with an attempt at a smile. It fell flat. Harry had lost his taste for his porridge and decided to just stick with the toast. He hadn't liked either Umbridge or Blythefield, but he never would have wished that on them.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to their Care of Magical Creatures class. Crossing the yard Harry heard Malfoy calling out.

"Hey, Scarhead!" Harry stopped and turned to face the pointy faced teen. Draco and his two goons approached. "Counting out your last minutes of life, Potter? Too bad you have to spend it with rubbish like this."

Harry could sense Ron straightening up at the insult and Hermione grabbing his arm, whispering, "Ignore him."

Harry just shook his head and turned away. "Scared, Potter? You should be. The Dark Lord himself said he was going to kill you. It's as good as done."

Harry turned back to Malfoy. "Him saying it doesn't make it happen. If anything it makes me feel safer. He said that only he would kill me. He's tried…how many times, Ron?...and I'm still here. Now, if anyone else tries, he'll turn on them. He doesn't like getting disobeyed. I figure I'm safer now than I was yesterday. He's proven pretty incompetent on that particular job."

Malfoy sneered at him. "I bet if someone to 'roughed you up' a bit first he wouldn't mind, though."

Harry smirked at him. "I wouldn't count on that, Malfoy. He was pretty cheesed off when he thought Umbridge had fried my mind."

Malfoy's face suddenly stilled and became intense. "And how do you know that, Potter? How did you know what happened yesterday?"

Harry suddenly became rigid. He shouldn't have let that slip. "Yesterday?"

"The time reported in the _Prophet_ was the same time you had your 'headache'. We're not all idiots."

Even with his sudden uneasiness, Harry couldn't resist a pointed glance at Crabbe and Goyle who were looking with uncomprehending looks to Malfoy.

Malfoy obviously got Harry's point. He turned angrily to his two bodyguards. "What are you just standing here for? Go get a seat for class!" The two hulking goons slumped off towards Hagrid's hut. Malfoy turned back to Harry. "Somehow you knew what happened. Finally decide to stop playing the hero and let someone get what they deserve?"

Harry's face lost all expression. Draco pressed his advantage. "Of course, you never did like her and you must have had a grudge against him. You probably wouldn't want to stop anything happening to them, would you? You probably wished Azkaban still had Dementors when you learned they were being sent there."

That one hit home. Harry took a half step back. Ron barged forward. "You don't know what you're talking about, Malfoy! Why don't you just get on to class. We don't need your little guesses and innuendos about things you know nothing about here."

Malfoy flushed and started to turn. He probably regretted sending his bodyguards away. "You may not know what I'm talking about Weasel, but Potter does!" With that final shot he left.

Ron and Hermione turned to Harry. Harry shrugged. "I have to admit, the thought did cross my mind about the Dementors. It didn't seem fair that they could do so much and not have to suffer like Sirius did when he had done nothing wrong."

Hermione took his arm. "It crossed your mind. It didn't stay?"

"No. I figured I was happy enough they were just being locked up."

The trio started to move across the lawn again. Ron put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "I admit it crossed my mind, too. I think that's just natural. You think of Azkaban, you think of Dementors." A shout from across the lawn caused the three to pick up their pace before they were late for class.

* * *

Blaise cornered Harry in his potions tutoring. "Everyone was blowing it off what happened to you in DADA. Everyone except your friends. They were concerned. What's up with that?"

Harry gave a short laugh. "Everyone except my friends, you and Malfoy."

Blaise narrowed his eyes. "A couple of years back there were all those articles about you having scar pains. They were true? Somehow your scar actually hurts?"

Harry wondered how much he actually trusted Blaise. He decided some information wouldn't hurt. "There is a connection still. It's not some secret that Voldemort doesn't know. I've been feeling pain off and on since I was eleven. I can't always block it."

Blaise just stared for a moment, then said, "Sucks to be you."

For some reason that struck Harry as very funny. "What? You don't think it fun to live with some connection to a psychopath?" Harry calmed down a little and gave a shrug. "What's the alternative?" That ended the conversation.

* * *

In a little over a week Hermione was able to hold her spell and they got ready to do the trances. Ginny did the leading for Hermione's trance. When Hermione got in deep enough to see her animal, she became visibly nervous.

"It's pacing around me. Growling at times. She is beautiful though. The spots on her coat….She's stopped and is sniffing at me." Hermione paused, then she smiled. "She's curled up by my feet now and I can pet her."

When Hermione came out she was smiling. "So what kind of animal was it, Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"A leopard. I'll be able to become a leopard!" Hermione was beaming.

Now it was Ron's turn. Harry could hear him muttering, "A cat, a cat," to himself. Harry guessed that if it was at all possible he wanted to be something similar to Hermione.

A giddy Hermione tried to calm enough to lead Ron into his trance. As he fell in deep enough, he got a look of awe on his face. "Blimey!"

"What are you seeing, Ron?"

"A lion. He's just lying there, flicking his tail every so often."

Harry heard Ginny mutter from behind him, "That's Ron alright," before Hermione shushed her.

"Oh, wow. He's yawning. Look at those teeth. They're huge." Ron didn't look scared at all, just fascinated. He stayed a while longer in the trance looking over his form. When he awoke he had the biggest grin on his face Harry had seen since he'd won the Quidditch Cup the year before.

Hermione was anxious to transform, but Ron, Harry and Ginny had a Quidditch game this weekend. Hermione contented herself with getting out book after book on leopards from the library.


	15. Valentine's Day

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett. Anyone guess what movie?

Chapter 15 Valentine's Day

Saturday dawned bright and chilly. The stands were filled with students breathing steam that gave thoughts to a dragon guarding its egg. Gryffindor was playing Hufflepuff and the Hufflepuffs chasers were doing very well. Zacharias Smith and his cohorts had obviously been practicing hard. They had already beaten Slytherin's team and Gryffindor was being hard pressed to keep in scoring range.

Ron was frustrated. He was falling for their feints and he was mad at himself. Harry hoped he'd calm down. Gryffindors beaters weren't helping matters either. Sloper had a cold and was sneezing. It was interfering with his play. He'd sneeze while swinging his club and miss the bludger or it would end up going in a different direction than he had aimed for. The score was 210 to 50 when Harry finally caught sight of the snitch. It was closer to Sommersby but he wasn't seeing it. Harry had to think of what to do. If he caught it, they would lose. He tried to track it from the corner of his eye. It was coming his way. When it was closer to him than Sommersby he relaxed a little. He still put on a show of searching for the snitch.

In the back of his mind he heard the crowd roar for a goal. Katie just gave them 60. Another roar and Natalie MacDonald had stolen the Quaffle from a Hufflepuff chaser and passed to Ginny. She didn't have a clear shot but was able to do a drop pass to Katie who put it in for another goal. That gave Gryffindor 70 and Harry was off after the snitch. It was a short chase and Gryffindor won the game.

Gryffindor won, but Katie was not happy. Katie had yelled at Jack for not going to Madam Pomfrey before the game to get Pepper Up Potion to rid himself of the cold. Harry felt for Jack, but knew Katie had a point. After Katie had turned away Harry heard Jack say to Andrew Kirke, "I'd usually rather have the sneezing than have that steam come out of my ears. I hate that feeling. But I guess I should've for the game."

Katie was not enjoying being captain and was in a funk for most of the weekend. Most of Gryffindor Tower avoided the seventh year girl.

* * *

The next evening Harry met with Professor Dumbledore again for another Occlumency lesson. Over the last three days, Harry had finally been able to block the Headmasters sneak attacks.

"You have done very well, Harry. You are now recognizing the intrusion immediately and blocking it. The next step, which takes quite some effort, is to give misleading information."

Harry frowned. "How can you lie with a memory?"

The Headmaster smiled at him. "There are ways, but for now we are going to concern ourselves with not so much lying as…misdirecting." At Harry's look of continued incomprehension the Headmaster continued speaking. "Sometimes, when someone tries to perform Legilimency they unconsciously give some verbal clues of what they are looking for. If you know what they are looking for you have an advantage. People's attitudes are constantly changing which means they store memories of conflicting feelings."

The Headmaster leaned forward. "Let's take for example your friend, Ron. If I wanted to know what your feelings were towards Ron what do you think I'd find?"

Harry thought this was an obvious question. "You'd find he was my friend."

"Ah! But if you did not want me to know this, do you think you could show me memories of him not being your friend?"

Harry frowned in confusion. Ron was his friend. Had been since he'd met him on the train back in first year. Well, except that time during the Triwizard Tournament when….

Harry's eyes met his Headmaster in realization. "So if I didn't want you to know that Ron was my friend, I could limit what you see to fights we've had or times we weren't talking to each other?"

The old Professors' eyes twinkled at Harry. "Exactly! With practice you can call up certain memories to the front of your mind so those would be the first pulled and can portray a feeling or fact in a false light. Even without having the memories already at the front of your mind, there is a way to eject memories you do not want seen in that tiny bubble of time where you see the memory before the Legilimens. You can forcefully move it aside so the one behind takes its place. With the latter method, you do have to hope that not too many consecutive memories need to be ejected or the Legilimens may realize something is afoot because of the pause. Then again, that can sometimes be attributed to the victim struggling against the curse."

"Why do you think I need to learn this? Wouldn't it be better just to block him? Don't you think Voldemort realizes I must have been learning Occlumency? This past summer he was cut off so abruptly that he must know something is going on."

"It is because of the abruptness that I think he may not realize what, precisely, is going on. As you've learned, Occlumency is an ongoing thing with many slips and back-slides. To come up against a wall so suddenly he must realize you had outside help; the help your stressball afforded you. It could be to our advantage for him to believe he has the upper hand when, in actuality, he does not."

The Headmaster sat back in his chair again.. "Now, to start, I believe you have potions tutoring with Audra Fletcher? Suppose I wanted to find out what you know about her. If you did not want me to discover your tutoring sessions, you would have to consciously put those to the back of your mind and try to focus more on times you have seen her outside of your potions lessons. If you were to go a step further, you would try to recall times where your feelings were slanted a certain way; indifference or antagonistic. Are you ready to give it a try?"

Harry nodded. They practiced for about a half hour and Harry found that his Professor was right in that Harry felt quite drained afterwards. Not only did the headache come from having someone else rummaging around in your brain, but also the stress of trying to keep his focus and only allow certain memories was very tiring.

They decided to step up their meetings to twice a week for practice, as it was something specific that was being searched for when he had warning. The Headmaster would still give the occasional random attack on any given day so Harry would have to keep his guard up. Harry asked what happened if you didn't know what the Legilimens was searching for and Dumbledore replied that was when the thought ejections had to come quickly to protect any sensitive information and hopefully you could figure out the common thread. They would be working on that more at a later date.

* * *

As Saturday neared Hermione became more and more wound up. The early days of February had her trying to distract herself by 'helping' her friends get organized. She handed out charmed homework planners that when a deadline approached, the homework turned red. Ron's was the most colorful. He told Harry when they headed for their dorm one night that having so much red just made it look like it belonged in Gryffindor.

Saturday morning the four friends had a light breakfast and then headed back to the dorms and into the trunk. Ron and Hermione stood there nervously.

"When you change, don't try to do anything. Don't try to look at yourself or see what you can do. It only makes it worse." Harry looked over at Ginny. "Do you agree?"

Ginny gave a grimace of remembered pain and nodded. She suddenly had a thought. "Do you want your picture taken?"

Ron shrugged but Hermione nodded eagerly. Ginny ran to get the camera. When she returned, they figured they were ready.

Hermione looked at Ron. "Together?"

Ron nodded. "Together. Start concentrating on the spell on three?" Hermione nodded and they counted. "One, two, three."

Both closed their eyes and concentrated. Hermione started changing first, followed shortly by Ron. Hermione's leopard instantly collapsed on to her side and started panting heavily. Ron's lion let out a growl of pain. Ginny urged Harry to change and try to help.

Harry changed to Flame and called out to them. /Hermione? Ron/ He couldn't understand anything back from them so he started to pipe his music. The two cats calmed enough after some time to look around. Hermione pulled her legs in and inched her way closer to Ron. When she was next to him, Ron leaned over and licked the fur on the top of her head. Hermione licked his paw in reply.

A deep rumble sounded from Ron's chest. Followed by a slightly higher pitched rumble from Hermione. Harry changed back. Ginny started clicking the camera. After she had a few photos she leaned down by the Hermione leopard and started petting her. Hermione closed her eyes and gave a loud purr.

"Does this help? Does it help to pet you? One blink for yes, two for no." Hermione slowly opened her eyes and then closed them again. "Harry, you start with Leo over there. I should have thought of that. Petting Crookshanks helps calm him."

Harry shifted over to Ron's lion form. Harry started running his hand over the mane. It felt quite coarse compared to the fur on his back. Harry felt a little strange at first, thinking this was his best mate, Ron, but then realized that it really was no different than when he would pet Sirius in his dog form. It was just different somehow when they were in an animal form. He let himself get over it.

Harry started to take in some details of Ron's appearance. His head and shoulders seemed extraordinarily large. His mane was tinted a reddish-gold and there was a Mohawk section on the top of his mane that ran down the back of his head to below his shoulder blades in a ruff that was a deeper auburn-red. The tuft of his tail matched the Mohawk section. His paws were huge. His eyes seemed almost as if they had eye-liner across the top and painted white underneath. He had white on his muzzle as well.

He looked across at Hermione. She had the distinctive spots that all leopards have; smaller on her face and legs, larger across her back. The markings on her back seemed to be oddly shaped black rings encircling a brown spot. Harry didn't know of course, but he thought her fur seemed a bit fuzzier than what a normal leopards would be. It almost seemed as if she had too much of it and it bushed out a little.

Harry and Ginny spent two more hours just petting their animal friends. Taking Harry by surprise, Ron lifted his large head and rumbled something towards Hermione. She responded as well and both seemed to tense their bodies.

Harry thought he knew what this meant. "Are you ready to change back? If so, give us a minute to get some bean bags ready." Another rumble Harry took for assent and he got out the bags and enlarged them. Ginny stood as well and they watched as their friends transformed back into themselves. Ron groaned as Harry levitated him onto a bag while Ginny did the same for Hermione.

They let them recover for a while longer until they felt well enough to climb back to their dorms. Harry helped Ron and Ginny helped Hermione. Neville was in the dorm when Harry helped Ron over to his bed.

"What's wrong with him?"

"We're saying he's just not feeling good, but he and Hermione just changed into their form for the first time."

Neville looked a little green. "So what are they?"

Harry spent a few minutes describing to Neville Ron and Hermione's forms. Harry spent the rest of the weekend fetching and carrying for Ron while he recovered.

* * *

Hermione was determined not to miss any of her classes and forced herself up on Monday, but Ron didn't care so much about his first period and decided to skive off. He would go to his next class, but he'd give the first one a miss. Harry brought him some toast and left to go to his first class. Something was bothering him. He hadn't been able to communicate with Ron and Hermione, but he knew that his father and his friends did and they were different animal families.

He supposed he could just ask Remus, but he really didn't want to. He knew Remus accepted that he'd done this, but really didn't approve of him putting himself through it. He imagined he'd felt the same conflicting emotions towards his own friends back when they had done it so many years ago. He was well aware of the pain it took as he felt it each and every month when he changed into Moony. Harry wanted the secret to communicating by some other means if he could. He supposed they'd find out more on Wednesday when they all changed.

The group made a plan to make an excursion to the Forbidden Forest Wednesday night after Harry returned from his Occlumency lesson. While Ginny could try her form pretty much anywhere, Ron and Hermione couldn't. They were a little noticeable. There weren't too many lions or leopards running around Scotland. They had thought about waiting until the weekend, but it was a Hogsmeade weekend due to Valentine's Day and they thought there might be a little more activity than would make it safe.

Right before dinner on Wednesday, Katie Bell approached Ron and asked if he'd take over the captain duties for the Gryffindor team for the last game of the year. He had shown he knew the game backwards and forwards and even suggested some plays to her that could fit their team in the past. She was feeling the pressure of her NEWTs and hadn't been enjoying it anyway.

Ron was speechless in his shock until Harry jabbed him in the ribs. Then he blurted out, "Of course!"

Katie took off the Captain's badge and handed it over. She seemed rather relieved. "As much as I liked the idea of being captain, I'd much rather just play and let someone else have the worries."

Ron's eyes were fever-bright when he turned to Harry. Harry could tell his emotions were on a high. "There's only one thing left to do," was Ron's obscure statement. Ron's eyes wandered the room until they landed on Hermione chatting with Ginny in a corner of the room. He straightened his shoulders and strode across the common room to her side.

Harry couldn't hear what he said, but when he approached, she looked up. A smile lit her face and she and Ginny became quite animated and started gesturing towards the new badge on his chest. Ron made some negating movements and stopped them talking. He then obviously asked a question and Hermione's eyes opened wide. Suddenly a brilliant smile lit her face and she nodded. Ron seemed to release a long-held breath and nodded back.

Ron made his way back to Harry. Harry raised one eyebrow in silent inquiry.

"I asked Hermione to go with me to Hogsmeade on Valentine's weekend."

"…And?" He was grinning as he asked the obvious question.

Ron grinned back. "She said 'yes'. This week can't get any better. Last weekend is over with, tonight we explore, Quidditch Captain and a date with Hermione."

* * *

Evening came quickly. Harry was on pins and needles all lesson and Dumbledore seemed to know that something was distracting him and let him off easy. Harry had been trying to allow him to see images of Audra only outside of their tutoring. Sometimes, though he still had to try to eject images that came up. He didn't exactly want the Headmaster seeing the little scene with Michelle Avery, either. No, explaining to Audra and Michelle about flying on Sirius' motorcycle during the summer and fighting off those Death Eaters definitely wasn't on the approved list of memories to view.

Fawkes had given Harry a deep look at the end of the lesson and had only given a warning /You are overdoing it, Fledgling/

At 7:30 the friends met in the trunk and Harry flashed them to the outside of the Shrieking Shack.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other nervously. Harry supposed it was only natural to be reluctant to change when the last time hurt so badly. Eventually they got their courage up and transformed. In looking at the picture Ginny had taken when they had first transformed, they decided to keep 'Leo' as Ron's name and chose 'Spots' for Hermione. Flame, Skye, Leo and Spots all looked at each other for the first time in animagi form.

Ron and Hermione became quite playful in their forms as they explored what their new bodies could do. Spots could almost run up the trees with ease whereas Leo didn't care for climbing over much.

Spots also was fast. Not as fast as the birds could fly, but faster than the larger lion. But Leo had a lot of brute strength and had deadly claws and teeth. The only frustration with Harry was that he only could seem to communicate with Ginny, but the two cats were having fun running through the Forbidden Forest and the birds followed. The big cats were playing a sort of tag with each other. Mostly Spots would run off and Leo would slowly track her down. You could tell that he was a hunter.

They had been doing this for some time, with Flame and Skye playing their own sort of tag in the treetops when Harry suddenly realized where they were. He had been making his way along a branch and found a spider's web. /Ginny! We have to get out of here! This is near Aragog's hollow/

/What/

/Aragog! Acromantula's! Giant Spiders! Find Hermione and I'll try to get Ron's attention. Be careful. They can climb trees/

Ginny flew off, but didn't really know where to look. She had sharp eyesight, but it worked best in full daylight, not evening in a dark forest.

Harry swooped down to Ron. He started flying agitatedly around his head. Ron just shook his great mane and lazily continued his way. Harry was frustrated. In his mind he pictured the old spider and practically shouted /Aragog/

Ron suddenly tensed and Harry saw the sudden realization and beginning of fear in his eyes. Ron started sniffing the air and stalking in a much quicker way than he had before. He was heading closer to the Spider's Hollow.

The webs were beginning to be more noticeable and Harry was growing concerned. Then he heard a snarl and was able to catch a glimpse of Spots in the distance. A large spider was in front of her and she was backed into a corner. Leo let out a loud roar and started bounding towards her.

Spots turned to try to climb the tree behind her and Harry saw the spider grab the leopard's hind leg with its pincer. A yelp of pain and the leopard was hanging upside down from the spider's pincer. Ron was still too far away. Harry closed his eyes and flashed right underneath the spider. He hoped the fire caused when he appeared would frighten away the acromantula. He appeared in a burst of flame as planned, but that must have been one straw too many and he felt a burning pain he hadn't felt since he'd first transformed. Suddenly he was engulfed in flames. He let out a cry of pain. The next Harry knew he was in a muffled environment. He could hear a fight going on though. He heard a high squealing whine and a lion roars.

Harry didn't dare transform back, but knew there wasn't anything he could do like this. Soon he could hear his name being called.

"Harry? Harry, where are you?" Ron's voice was frantic and was soon joined by Ginny.

Harry let himself transform. He found himself on his stomach on the forest floor and he quickly turned over. He found there was pain after the transformation when he burned. He was a little shaky but had his wand out and was on his guard.

Ginny threw herself at him. Harry looked and saw Ron and Hermione looking back at him. A little ways off was the smoldering remains of a bloody spider. "We've got to get out of here. There'll be more."

Ginny was worried. "How are we going to do it? You can't take us back anymore and Hermione is hurt."

Harry looked over and saw Hermione was holding her leg and it looked like she had tears in her eyes. Harry shrugged.

Ron looked concerned. "I can carry Hermione. She could ride on my back. But I don't think I could carry two and still make good time."

Ginny tightened her jaw. "I can carry Harry."

The other three looked at her. Ron asked, "How can you carry Harry? He'd much too big for you and you can't as a bird."

"I can if he transforms back." Ginny looked determined.

Harry bit back a groan. He hated being helpless, but this wasn't the time to argue. This was the time to get out of here. "Okay. That sounds like our best plan. Do you know the way out?"

Ron shook his head. "I wasn't paying attention." Hermione was shaking her head, too.

Harry pointed his finger. "You need to head north. Ginny can get above the trees to keep us on track. Let's get moving."

Harry changed back with inward reluctance and Ginny and Ron changed as well. Leo moved over to Hermione and she climbed onto his back and grabbed hold of his mane with both hands. Ginny hopped over to Harry and carefully picked him up in her talons. He definitely didn't like this. Of all the ways to fly, being held helpless in another bird's talons was definitely the bottom of the list. Even if the other bird was Ginny. Not only was he helpless, he was cold. Having no feathers made it awfully chilly.

The friends slowly made their way back up the forest. It was slow going and Harry was extremely tired of being a passenger of the constant up and down flying Ginny had to do. The forest was getting quite dark and it was hard for Ginny to avoid branches and still be careful with Harry.

One time Harry caught a glimpse of a flutter of white flying towards them. The next time Ginny made her way up through the trees a snowy owl came flying towards her. Ginny narrowly missed getting hit by the owl. Then the owl turned and attacked again. Ginny wasn't sure why the owl was attacking. /Hedwig? Is that you? What are you doing/

The owl pulled up short and turned to stare at the other bird with her large eyes. Skye flew to the ground, carefully lay Harry down and briefly transformed back. Hermione looked at her curiously. "I think something's up with Hedwig. She keeps attacking me."

Hedwig flew down and landed on Ginny's shoulder. She started clicking her beak and making soft hooting noises.

"I can't understand you. Let me transform again." Ginny gave Hedwig to Hermione and transformed back to Skye.

/What's the matter, Hedwig/

/I can feel My Harry near, but I cannot see him. I can feel that he could use my help. I could feel him strongest next to you and I thought you must have done something to him, but I know _you_ would not. Where is My Harry/ The snowy white owl was agitated.

Harry transformed as well. He was lying on his side. He sat up. Hedwig gave a squawk and fluttered down to land on him. Harry stroked his pet's feathers. Skye and Hedwig seemed to have a bit of a conversation. Harry waited patiently for it to end, just enjoying not being helpless. Finally Ginny popped back and said, "Hedwig's going to carry you back to the castle. That way I won't have to worry about hurting you while I fly through the branches."

Hedwig was now preening Harry's hair. Harry protested, "I could probably walk the rest of the way."

Ginny gave him a look. "We can move faster if you go with Hedwig. It's dark and you can't move as fast in the dark as Ron can as Leo and Hermione needs to focus on hanging on to Ron so she can't carry you. I could, but it would be constant up and down and I'm afraid I'll hurt you one of these times. Hedwig wants to help and she could fly straight to the castle."

Harry gave up and transformed back. Hedwig gently picked him up and took off through the trees. She was a strong and fast flier and soon they were approaching Hogwarts.

For some reason Harry had assumed that Hedwig would bring him to his dorm. He was mistaken. She brought him to the owlery and settled him in a nesting area high above the ground. Other owls showed their interest in what type of snack Hedwig had brought back, but she protectively settled her wing over Harry's bald and wrinkled form. Harry wished he could communicate, but at this stage he couldn't. He was totally helpless. He would have asked Hedwig to at least bring him to the ground so he could transform back, but as it was, he would just have to wait. Hedwig seemed to be cooing to him soundlessly. He could feel the vibration even though he couldn't hear a noise. He had a sudden memory of Luna talking of Hedwig acting as his adoptive mother. He supposed this qualified. He had to admit he felt much warmer now, nestled next to her body.

An hour passed and Harry was concerned for his friends. As the second hour was nearing a close, the door to the owlery opened. "Harry?" Ginny was removing the invisibility cloak. She had the Marauder's Map in her hand.

Hedwig snapped to attention and gently repositioned Harry so she could grasp him in her talons. She lifted off and flew down near Ginny. She fluttered to the floor and lightly let Harry roll out of her talons. Harry quickly transformed. He felt an overwhelming sense of relief both physically as he stretched his muscles and mentally that he was finally out of that form and shouldn't have to go back to it again that night. Hedwig flew up to his shoulder.

Ginny moved up to him and put her arms around him. "I was getting worried when I couldn't find you."

Regardless of his frustrations, he couldn't be upset with his owl. Harry smiled fondly at her. "I think Hedwig just wanted to make sure I was safe until you returned. Didn't you, girl?" Hedwig gave his ear a light nip in agreement.

"Ron and Hermione are waiting for us. Let's head back." After they both thanked the owl one more time, they covered themselves in the cloak and left.

When they got back to the trunk, Ron and Hermione were there. Hermione had her leg elevated with a charmed cooling cloth on it and bandages wrapped around it. Harry took a look and asked, "Should you go to Madam Pomfrey?"

Hermione shook her head. "I should be fine. If it's still bothering me tomorrow I'll see her. I think it's just bruised, though. But what about you? Why were you still in the owlery?"

Harry explained how Hedwig had him high in the air so he couldn't exactly transform back and couldn't talk to her either. "So what all happened tonight?"

Ginny started with when she went to find Hermione. She hadn't been able to until she heard Ron's roar. Ron mentioned that after he tried to ignore Harry, he saw a sudden image in his mind he could tell came from Harry of Aragog and realized what it meant. He then started to track her in earnest. Hermione said that she had been taken by surprise. She hadn't been able to see much when she was being held by the spider, but he suddenly let her go when there was a flare of light. She then noticed that the spider's hairs were on fire. She hadn't known Harry was there. Even though the spider was on fire, it wasn't through with her yet. It had been advancing on her when Leo reached the scene. He had jumped the spider and rolled it over. The lion's claws and jaws broke through the skin of the spider and he was able to kill it. Harry looked at Ron, impressed. That was quite something to do considering his feelings about spiders. At that time Ginny joined them and Ron transformed back to start looking for Harry. He had realized that Harry was there somewhere and that was where the fire had come from.

After Hedwig had taken Harry back to Hogwarts, the journey through the forest had been relatively quiet. There were a few noises that made them tense, but a growl from Leo kept the creatures at bay. Even though the adventure hadn't been all fun and games, the attitude at the end of the night was that it still was worth it and they just had to be a little smarter about how they went about their exploring.

Harry was the most familiar of the four with the Forbidden Forest. They decided they would try to map out different areas. They would know to avoid the spider's hollow and Harry would show them the paths (if he could find them again) to the centaur village and to Grawp and Minno's cave. Of course, it would have to wait until Harry could participate again. In the meantime, they figured the others could try to figure out how Harry had sent the image to Ron. They could practice that in the trunk in the evenings.

It was well after midnight when the friends said their goodnights and returned to their dorms. Tomorrow morning's classes were going to be coming very early.

* * *

Sixth and Seventh year students had special permission to bring their dates into Hogsmeade on Friday evening for a Valentine's Day dinner. Ron and Hermione and Harry and Ginny got ready to go. They planned to walk to the village together, but have their meals at separate tables if they could.

Filch gave them nasty looks as he checked them off his list; especially Ginny as she was a fifth year, but as she was Harry's date she was allowed to go. Everything seemed calm and peaceful as they and several other students made their way to the wizarding village. Most of the students broke off to head for Madam Puddifoot's. Harry shuddered. They were just going to have a small dinner at the Three Broomsticks.

Harry smiled in contentment as he walked along holding Ginny's hand. Ron and Hermione were in front of them holding hands as well. They entered the pub and split up. Harry helped Ginny to her chair. Ginny smiled at him and Harry felt warm inside. He and Ginny spent a wonderful couple of hours just talking about how they felt about things and getting to know each other better. Harry had to admit it was mostly Ginny talking and him answering her occasional question, but that was okay. He liked listening to her and never was one to volunteer too much information on himself anyway. He didn't mind answering her questions, though. He really liked her.

All too soon it was time to go. Actually it was past time to go. Harry and Ginny quickly collected Ron and Hermione and hurried out of the pub. It seemed they had missed when all the other students had returned to the castle.

Ron was moaning, "We are going to be so late. They probably won't let us come back tomorrow. I won't be able to restock my supply of candy and I'm about out of chocolate frogs. I heard Honeydukes had a new type of levitating ball, too, Tornado Twisters. After you float, you spin around. I was really wanting to try one." Hermione was patting his arm consolingly, but Harry could tell she was trying not to laugh at his over-dramatics.

As they nearing the gates of the castle a slight figure in a dark cloak was hurrying away from the castle. Harry got a brief glimpse of huge glasses glinting in the moonlight as she brushed past the teens. Something started tickling the back of Harry's mind. He started to speed up his pace. Ginny and the others looked at him curiously but followed along. As they turned the last corner they could see the gates of Hogwarts in the distance. The four friends were surprised to find they were closed. Filch should have been waiting there to check them back in. The gates never should have been closed while a student was off the grounds. At least not without someone there to let them back in. Something was wrong.

Harry's friends looked to him with their surprise clearly on their faces. Harry looked grim. "Something's wrong." His mind flashed back to the female figure moving up the path. "I think that was Trelawney."

Ginny frowned. "What would she have to do with the gates being closed?"

"Dumbledore seemed quite intent on her not leaving the grounds when Umbridge sacked her last year. I don't think she's really left the school in the fifteen years she's taught here. I mean she rarely comes down from her tower. Now she suddenly up and leaves? There is no way those gates should be closed. I think someone wanted those gates closed to block her return."

Ron looked confused. "Why her though. She's an old fraud."

Hermione's eyes widened. "The prophecy! The copy was destroyed. Voldemort probably figures the only way to hear it now would be to hear it from either the source or the listener. Trelawney or Dumbledore."

Harry nodded. "Since we can't get back in anyway, maybe we should try to stop her. Ginny, could you fly to the castle and try to find Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall? Let them know she's left. I'll bet you anything they don't know." Determined not to repeat his mistake of the previous year he added, "Professor Snape, too." Ginny gave a nod of her head, changed to Skye and flew off towards Hogwarts.

Ron looked to Hermione then said, "We can try to track her. We'll try to pick up her scent." Hermione smiled at him and nodded. They transformed to Leo and Spots. They sniffed the air and started back up the path to Hogsmeade. Harry was hard-pressed to follow the two felines. They were moving rapidly. Spots ran a ways ahead and suddenly stopped and started sniffing around in a circle becoming agitated. Leo came up to her and started sniffing as well and started moving off to the side of the path towards the forest.

Hermione popped back. "There were a lot of people here. Probably Death Eaters. They took her off into the forest that way." Harry followed to where her finger was pointing, the direction Leo was facing.

"We'll have to careful. We'll see where they are and come back to wait for Ginny and the Professors." Hermione nodded and changed back to Spots.

The three friends carefully picked their way through the woods. Leo and Spots moved a ways ahead and Harry followed their general direction a little behind. Up ahead he could see a light flickering through the trees. Harry crouched behind a bush to see what was going on. He could see several backs of black-robed figures. Harry suddenly felt a sharp pain in his scar. A high, chilling voice carried through the air.

"I want a report. What is the old fool doing?"

A Death Eater stepped forward. Harry recognized Snape's voice. "Dumbledore and McGonagall have been fallen for the ruse. They have left the castle. They should not be back for some time." Harry felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Had Snape deliberately led them away and gotten Trelawney to leave the safety of the school? The old suspicions came back strong.

"Very good." Snape stepped back in line. Lord Voldemort turned towards the quaking Professor Trelawney. "You _will_ tell me the prophecy."

Professor Trelawney's voice wobbled as she tried to respond in a misty voice, "The…the power to con…conquer…"

"That is not it! I want the real prophecy and I have ways of getting it!" Sybil Trelawney collapsed in tears. Harry's heart caught. Lord Voldemort raised his wand. "_Crucio_!"

A scream split the air. Harry jumped. He must have moved a little too loudly because suddenly there was a flash of red and he was caught in a spell. He was hit with a body bind and soon there were several Death Eaters around him. Harry's wand was yanked from his hand. He was dragged into the clearing.

Lord Voldemort was there with a crumpled Sybil Trelawney in front of him. There were about ten Death Eaters forming a circle around them. The body bind was released and Harry was thrown to the ground near Professor Trelawney.

"Harry Potter. What a surprise. I wasn't expecting you. I'm afraid you'll have to wait your turn. I have business to attend to first." The snake-like face turned back to the nearly hysterical woman.

Harry drew up his courage. "She can't tell you any prophecy. She can never remember the real ones."

The red eyes swung back to focus on him. "What do you know of the prophecy?"

"I've heard one." He'd actually heard more than one, but only one in person. Harry tried to skirt the issue; telling the truth, but not the whole truth. He shoved the first prophecy to the back of his mind while bringing up the second made in his third year. Suddenly he felt probing in his mind.

_A voice echoed from behind. "IT WILL HAPPEN TONIGHT."_

_Harry turned and sitting rigid with eyes unfocused and slack-jawed was his professor. Her eyes started to roll and in a harsh voice unlike her own she said, "THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT…THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANT'S AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT…BEFORE MIDNIGHT…THE SERVANT…WILL SET OUT…TO REJOIN…HIS MASTER…."_

_Her head fell to her chest and she made a sort of grunting noise. Quite suddenly, her head snapped up again._

"_I'm so sorry, dear boy," she said dreamily, "the heat of the day, you know…I drifted off for a moment…."_

Another memory approached.

"_Professor Dumbledore – yesterday, when I was having my Divination exam, Professor Trelawney went very – strange."_

"_Indeed?" said Dumbledore. "Er – stranger than usual, you mean?"_

"_Yes…her voice went all deep and her eyes rolled and she said…she said Voldemort's servant was going to set out to return to him before midnight…She said the servant would help him come back to power." Harry stared up at Dumbledore. "And then she sort of became normal again, and she couldn't remember anything she'd said. Was it – was she making a real prediction?"_

_Dumbledore looked mildly impressed._

"_Do you know, Harry, I think she might have been," he said thoughtfully. "Who'd have thought it? That brings her total of real predictions up to two. I should offer her a pay raise…." 1_

Lord Voldemort lowered his wand. His eyes narrowed. "So it may take a little longer than I expected. There are ways past memories charms," Harry shuddered remembering what he'd heard happened to Bertha Jorkins, "there may be ways past this as well. Bellatrix, take her away and prepare. I might as well take the opportunity to find out some things from Potter as he was so obliging as to come tonight."

With a screech of laughter one Death Eater stepped forward and kicked Trelawney to get her to rise. The whimpering woman did finally make it to her feet and Bellatrix poked and prodded her on her way. She apparently had her wand stinging her like a cattle prod because every time it touched Trelawney's skin she gave a shriek of pain. Harry clenched his fists.

Harry was now standing stiffly alone in the circle of Death Eaters. He wondered what would come next. Voldemort started walking around him the way a shark circles its prey.

The cold voice started speaking again. "I am curious to know what happened this summer. I know our connection was open, then it suddenly was cut off. Tell me how."

Harry knew this was going to be very tricky. "Professor Dumbledore taught me Occlumency this summer." Harry tried to think of what memories he wanted near the surface and in which order.

"You lie! You needn't bother telling lies to me. I can always tell. He can't have taught you Occlumency because I can still get through now."

"Then why bother asking questions? I'm not going to tell you anything!"

"Don't worry. You won't have to. _Crucio_!"

Harry's bones were on fire. His head was splitting open along his scar. He screamed, he wanted to black out…and then it was done. He found himself on the ground panting heavily. The Death Eater's had started to crowd around to enjoy the entertainment. "_Legilimens_!" Harry briefly wondered why he bothered to say it out loud when he hadn't before when the memories started coming. Fortunately the curse didn't make the memories leave the order he had put them in.

_Harry trying and failing in blocking his Headmaster from his mind and collapsing in a chair._

_Again, Harry failing._

_The vision of Ron and Harry's confession of how he wasn't looking forward to the rest of the night._

_Ginny giving him the magical stress ball._

_Phoenix song coming from it and clearing his mind._

"Accio ball." Voldemort lifted his wand.

"I don't have it, you moron! If I did do you think you would have seen that?" There was a hiss that ran through the Death Eater's at Harry's insult.

Rough hands grabbed him from the ground and pulled him to his feet. He felt one Death Eater lean forward and heard Snape's voice hiss in his ear, "_Shrieking Shack, Potter_," before he was roughly pushed forward.

"You are a very headstrong and foolish young man, Harry Potter. You will learn that I do not take to insults very well. Crucio!"

'Crikey, he hated that curse,' was the last thought he had before he was once again on the ground, feeling his eyes roll up, screams coming from his already raw throat and wishing the pain would end.

When the curse was lifted, Harry was once again pulled up by his shoulders by two Death Eaters. Harry noticed one of them had a silver hand. Harry muttered, "Bet he loves to know how loyal his servants are to their friends." He could feel Wormtail flinch.

Voldemort got a thoughtful look on his snake face. He was looking over Harry's shoulder where Harry suspected Professor Snape was. "…Loyalty…. Yes, it is good to know who is loyal." Harry could feel the Death Eater on his left stiffen.

Harry took a breath. There was going to be another round of Legilimency coming. Here's where he had to decide if he trusted Dumbledore's judgment. Who was Snape loyal to? Did he fool Dumbledore and lead Trelawney out here or was he really spying for Dumbledore?

Harry hadn't quite made his choice when the memories started. The first memory was of Snape reporting in the summer about the attack. He made his choice and forcibly ejected it. The next memory was of Harry's first potions class in his beginning year. '_Our new celebrity…"_

Good thing Snape was so snarky. Fourth year's threat with Veritaserum, second year trying to get him expelled, insult upon insult, third year's rant about Harry helping Black escape, detention upon detention, points upon points, memories were not hard to come by. Ejecting one or two took no time at all because there was always a nasty one behind it. By the time Voldemort was done, Harry was back on the ground with a head that felt like it would explode. Voldemort had a satisfied smirk on his face. Harry forced his to look confused and suspicious.

"Wormtail! Take Potter away. We'll take him with us as well. Right now I have a few final words to say." The silver hand gripped Harry's shoulder and hauled him up again. Harry stumbled in the direction the hand was pulling him. He was almost out of earshot when he heard Voldemort say, "Severus, Severus, you've been a bit blatant in your dislike of Mr. Potter…."

Finally the hand stopped. Harry looked around. They were in the middle of nowhere as far as he could see. Suddenly Wormtail pushed Harry's wand into his hand. "Go. My debt to you is paid."

"Where is Trelawney?"

Wormtail's eyes moved to a side path then went back to Harry. "You can't help her. They have more plans for her. Save yourself. Go!"

"What plans?"

"I can't tell you that! Just go!"

"I won't go without Professor Trelawney." Harry started up the path he'd seen his eyes flick to.

Wormtail seemed frustrated. Finally he said in a voice that carried to Harry, "Polyjuice!"

Harry just about groaned. He was grateful for the warning, but now he wouldn't know if the Sybil Trelawney he found was really her or an imposter. He saw a small tent-like enclosure up ahead. He approached slowly. He heard a noise off to his side. He held his wand ready. A low, throaty growl came and he relaxed a little. Leo and Spots came out of the bushes and morphed into Ron and Hermione. Skye fluttered down next and became Ginny.

Ginny started to whisper, "I couldn't find any of the professor's who are Order members. I flew up to the Headmaster's window and Fawkes said he'd left already with Professor McGonagall. Then I came inside and Audra said she'd seen Snape 'swearing his head off' and leaving while holding his arm. I hurried back to the dorm and grabbed this." Ginny pulled out the invisibility cloak. "There's no help coming."

Harry nodded. "I figured as much." He jerked his thumb back towards the group of Death Eater's. "Snape's back there. I think Trelawney's up ahead, but…Wormtail said there's polyjuice."

"Wormtail!" Ron's exclamation was loud.

"Ron, hush!" Hermione tried to quiet him. She turned towards Harry. "Do you think his word can be trusted?"

"Why would he lie about that? Why not just let me take the wrong one away? We've got to move fast whatever we do. Hermione, why don't you change to Spots and if we can find both of them, see if you can smell any difference. Ron, Ginny, will you guys back me up getting Trelawney?"

"Of course, mate." mingled with "Yes, Harry."

Hermione changed back to Spots and the other three tightly gripped their wands and approached the tent. Hermione made a circuit around the tent to make sure there were no other exits. On the count of three they burst into the tent. "_Expelliarmus_!" Three simultaneous voices shouted. It was obviously a magical tent like the ones at the Quidditch World Cup as it was the size of a regular room on the inside. Two wands came flying forward and two Sybil Trelawneys went crashing back.

Harry waved his wand and thin cords came out to wrap around first the one on the left, then the one on the right.

"Dear boy, what are you doing? You've come to rescue me? You need to release these ropes so we can leave!" one of them said in a misty, but panicked voice.

"No, dear, you need to save me!" Harry growled in frustration. Spots entered the tent and went up to the two women who went slightly hysterical at the sight of the leopard. "Can you tell?"

The leopard growled in frustration and gave her head a shake. Harry grimaced, then had an idea. "You," he pointed to the one on the left. "What animal do you see in my tea?"

A look of slight confusion entered her eyes. "A stag," she choked out.

Harry turned to the second Trelawney and silently asked the same question.

"A grim," she answered. The left Trelawney couldn't help her look of surprise at the right.

Harry smiled a grim smile. "_Stupefy_," he said and he released the real Trelawney from the ropes.

"What do we do with that one?" Ron asked.

"We don't have time to do anything. Let's just get out of here." They quickly headed off into the surrounding woods. Suddenly Harry threw his arm out and silenced them all.

Death Eater's had just reached the tent. There was a moment of silence then a cry of fury.

Death Eater's spilled out of the enclosure. Voldemort was yelling in fury. "Wormtail! You failed! You were overpowered by a mere child? _Avada Kedavra!"_

They were back in the trees, but they could still see what was happening. Wormtail had fallen to his knees, sobbing, "Maste…." as the curse hit him and he fell over.

Harry was breathing hard. He was dead. He heard the start of a noise building in pitch and turned to look at his companions. Ron and Hermione had shocked looks on their faces at what they had just seen, but Trelawney was starting to lose it. The noise was generating from her.

Ginny also looked shocked, but came out of it to snap, "_Silencio_!" in a whisper.

The spell seemed to unlock all the others. "We need to get out of here," Harry whispered. "Let's move. They're going to be looking for us."

Trelawney seemed to be having a nervous breakdown silently. It was hard to get her to move. Finally Harry snapped, "_Stupefy_!" The flighty woman collapsed. "Ron, can you carry her on your back? We need to get to the Shrieking Shack."

"The Shrieking Shack? Why don't we just go back to the gates? They'll probably open to an unlocking charm."

"I don't know why. Snape just said to go to the Shrieking Shack."

Ron got a stubborn look on his face. "That greasy git probably just wants credit for recapturing you. He probably figured he had his bases covered in case you did get away again."

Harry turned fiercely to Ron. "I ignored him once and Sirius got killed. I'm not going to ignore him again! Now transform so we can get Trelawney out there. Ginny, it'd be better for you to fly back, too. Maybe you can help them find the way back to the castle through the forest. I'll use the invisibility cloak and we'll wait for whatever Snape has planned."

Ginny looked up at him a little desperately. "Can't you transform yet?"

Harry shook his head. "It's still too close to the burning day."

"Maybe I could carry you again." Her eyes were close to tears.

"What about Trelawney? She's hysterical. Leo and Spots can't handle her and still get back to Hogwarts safely. I'll need to get her there. Snape must have some kind of plan. Maybe he knows how to open the shack so we could take the tunnel. He knows I know about it."

Ginny looked frustrated, but leaned forward to give him a hug. "Okay. But you be careful! We'll hang around until we're sure you're on your way."

Ron, Hermione and Ginny transformed and Harry managed to get Trelawney on Leo's back. He put the invisibility cloak over himself, but kept one hand on Trelawney's shoulder to keep her steady. At one point she started to stir and freak out at being on a lion's back, but Harry quickly stupefied her again.

* * *

When they neared the shack, Harry suggested they separate, as they were probably too noticeable all together. Harry was hiding under the invisibility cloak with Professor Trelawney out cold, hoping that he was right to trust Professor Snape. He knew Skye, Spots and Leo were keeping near but out of sight, which made him feel a bit better. He wasn't totally alone in this. Their forms wouldn't protect them from magical attack, though.

Suddenly Harry tensed as he heard footsteps approaching. "You don't have to come with me if you're scared. Go on back and search elsewhere!" Professor Snape was coming this way. Was it all a trap? Was it a set up that 'just in case' Harry managed to slip away again he could get the glory in re-trapping him? He didn't know about the invisibility cloak Ginny brought. That was one advantage Harry had.

Lucius Malfoy's voice answered him. "The Dark Lord may trust in your loyalty since whatever spell he performed on Potter, but I don't. You will not be getting out of my sight."

His professor smirked at him. "Is it that you truly don't trust my loyalty or you just want to believe I'm not loyal to put you that much higher in the ranks uncontested?"

To Harry's surprise, Lucius Malfoy seemed to actually give it some thought. "I'm not sure. But tell me again, why would the brat go this way?"

"It's one of the few places people won't go to anymore since the rumors of it being haunted again started. Something I believe _your son_ helped to start. Much as I hate to say it, Potter's not stupid. He must know the gates are guarded and patrols are combing Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest searching for him. There is one other entrance to Hogwarts that he knows and it's here, inside this shack."

Harry was amazed his Professor was complimenting him in a way, but then felt rather stupid since his first instinct had been to make a run straight for the Hogwarts gates. He was finally being praised by the git, but he didn't deserve it.

Lucius' voice became hesitant. "You think he would have gone inside?"

Professor Snape's voice was impatient. "Of course, he would have. He's a Gryffindor. They have no sanity."

"But what about the spirits? Draco swears it wasn't the firewhiskey. Villagers, too, have reported activity again. The old timers' say that the screams were much worse than before. Multiplied even. How could Potter even get inside? Normal charms won't open the Shack. Foolish children have tried for years."

"Doesn't Draco report anything to you? Potter has a little following that studies advanced spells. I'm sure they've run across stronger spells than 'Alohamora'."

Lucius seemed offended. "Of course, Draco reports to me. I'm just saying that no sane person would enter a building with violent spirits reportedly active in it."

"Who ever said Potter was sane? If he was sane, do you think he could have survived this long against our Dark Lord? There is a reason he's continually reported as 'delusional' even if it gets recanted. How many times could they have been wrong?" His tone was filled with total disgust.

Harry felt very odd listening to this conversation about himself. He wondered again what Snape's real feelings were. He really did seem to hate him.

"Maybe we should just keep watch out here. Look for Potter approaching. He may not have arrived yet."

Snape had clearly run out of patience. "If you want to stay out here, fine. But I'm going to check inside." Snape then pointed his wand at the door and shouted, "Erumpo!" There was a small blast of air from his wand and the door was forced open.

So _that's_ what it was supposed to look like. Harry had used that spell before. He used it when he'd blasted the cell door off at the Guard Shack. He supposed he'd used a bit too much force. Snape's looked much more controlled.

Snape and Malfoy approached the door. Malfoy tried one more time. "He couldn't have been here if the door was still intact."

Snape clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Don't you think he knows simple repair charms? Come in if you're coming or feel free to leave if you're not."

Harry followed them at a distance lugging Professor Trelawney with him. As Harry and Trelawney went over the threshold, he heard startled exclamations from inside the house. He wondered what could startle two hardened Death Eaters?

He could hear Malfoy whining, "…But you can see what happened here! Look what they did to the bodies! There's blood everywhere! We could be next!"

"Then go! Go on and run…" Professor Snape's voice trailed off and his gaze focused at something by the door. Harry realized he was looking down towards his and Trelawney's feet. As Harry had crossed the threshold, the cloak had caught on a nail and pulled away. Trelawney's foot was visible. Harry quickly tugged the cloak back down. Now Snape knew that Harry and Trelawney were in the doorway. "…But I do not intend to go back to the Dark Lord with an incomplete search. I intend to search upstairs. Are you coming with me or do you want to face our Master with failure?"

Malfoy looked queasy but followed Snape up the stairway. Harry could see they were walking on a dark path running up the middle of the stairway. He didn't remember that from before. He quickly got Professor Trelawney maneuvered inside. He had to pause at the entrance to the living room as he took in the sight of the room. Blood splattered the walls everywhere. A flashback of the werewolves fighting each other crossed his mind. He had seen it happen, but somehow the dark stained walls looked so much more gruesome. The dark path on the stairs was now explained as well. The large bloody slabs of meat that had been dragged left their dried trails in the wooden floor. Harry felt bile rise in his throat. Even though he knew this wasn't a scene of some gruesome crime it sure looked the part.

Trelawney moaned. She was beginning to come to. 'Please, no. Please no.' Harry whispered to himself.

"What was that noise?" The panicked voice of Lucius Malfoy floated down the stairway.

Sarcasm dripped from Snape's voice, "Maybe one of your ghosts."

Trelawney moaned again. Harry quickly cast a silent silencing charm on her, but the damage was done. Malfoy was descending the stairs and Trelawney was starting to move around. What Harry needed was another noise to distract them. That's when he thought of it.

Harry focused on the instruments he and Remus had used on Malfoy Jr. that day in the fall. He focused on where they were and on the animating spell he'd used so often to practice becoming an animagus. Malfoy was now at the bottom of the stairs and looking Harry's direction. Slowly a moaning came from the upper level. Harry added another instrument and a higher pitched wail was heard. Then he tried for a third and a spine-chilling screech burst forth. Malfoy's eyes were wide and his hand was up protecting his throat, the other hand had his wand gripped tightly and pointed up the stairs. Snape also hurried down the stairs looking more pale than usual. Both looked at each other and ran for the door.

As they left, Harry's concentration on the spell lowered and the sounds decreased. Trelawney was now awake enough to have a good look around the blood-splattered room. While hearing the ghostly accompaniment she shakily asked, "Where are we?"

"The Shrieking Shack."

The shrieks that had issued from the instruments were nothing compared to what his Professor could do. Through the open door a bird flew and a lion and leopard ran in. Trelawney saw them and it was too much for her. She fainted again.

Ginny changed first. She looked around the bloody room. Her eyes were frightened. "Harry?"

Harry pulled the invisibility cloak off of himself and Trelawney. "Let's get in the tunnel. We can all go back that way. Then I'll stop the noise." Harry had to almost shout to be heard.

The others saw that he was calm and calmed themselves. Harry threw a "_Reparo_" towards the door thinking at least it would buy them some time in their escape if someone should try to come after them. Ron and Hermione helped Harry with Trelawney while Ginny held open the trap door. As soon as the trap door fell closed above them the sounds from above stopped. Hermione performed a _mobilicorpus_ spell to float the unconscious professor. Harry did a wandless lumos spell that shed more light than just the wand tip and they quickly started up the tunnel back to Hogwarts. Quietly Harry asked, "Did I ever tell you about how the Marauders passed time before the full moons?"

* * *

1 From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

A/N – Now we're about to go out and buy book 6. Happy posting!


	16. Shadow

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

* * *

Chapter 16 Shadow 

Harry never felt so comfortable. Even though he kept replaying the events of Valentine's Day in his mind, it didn't make him as uptight as it would have before. Ginny was in his arms. They were snuggled in a corner of a couch in front of the fire illusion in the trunk. Hermione added a small warming charm so heat even emanated from the illusion, making it feel even more realistic. Ron and Hermione were on a second couch. They were becoming more obviously a couple since Valentine's Day. Harry felt more at peace than he ever remembered feeling before.

The interview with the teachers had been as nerve-wracking as Harry had expected. They had returned to the castle and Harry had led the group to the Headmaster's office. He wasn't quite sure enough of Trelawney to trust leaving her in the infirmary. What if there had been more than one Polyjuiced person? Harry thought he would feel safer if she was in sight until more than an hour had passed.

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall had returned first. Both were rather surprised to find Harry and his friends, along with an unconscious Professor Trelawney in the Headmaster's office. Preliminary explanations of why their Divination teacher was being kept unconscious had just finished when Snape came in.

Harry would have much rather done his explanations without Snape there, but started anyway. He explained how they were late coming back from Hogsmeade (Snape snorted) and found the gates locked and how they suspected that it had been Trelawney who had passed them going towards Hogsmeade. Harry skipped over the Ginny going for help scene because he couldn't think of how she would have gotten into the castle. He got a raised eyebrow or two when he mentioned that Ginny just happened to have his invisibility cloak along, but they let him continue.

When Harry reached the part where he got captured, Snape stood and started pacing. Harry could almost feel the waves of anger pulsating from him. McGonagall caught her breath in surprise. Albus Dumbledore's eyes got very intense. Harry mentioned how Voldemort had used Legilimency for digging for the Prophecy, of which Harry had let him see the one about Wormtail; about the stress ball; and about Professor Snape. Harry was sure he had been able to control the memories seen. Professor Dumbledore's eyes had shone proudly. He then told how Snape had directed him to the Shrieking Shack and how Wormtail let him go and gave him warning of the Polyjuice. Snape even seemed surprised at this news.

Harry went on to explain how he and his friends had confronted the two Trelawneys and tried to figure which one was real. Harry told how they witnessed Wormtail's death and had to keep stunning their professor because she seemed to have gone around the bend from the stress. Harry told how he waited until Professor Snape opened the Shrieking Shack then used the invisibility cloak to get inside with Professor Trelawney. Then how his friends came in after Snape and Malfoy had left and they returned to Hogwarts.

"I didn't see your friends."

Harry kept his face forward and expressionless while he answered his professor. "That's because they had been hiding. You thought I'd be out there alone on Valentine's night?"

He could tell Snape wasn't satisfied with the answer, but had to accept it. "What was that hideous noise that was made?"

Again, Harry kept his face forward. "My father and his friends used to like to…_enhance_ the reputation of the Shrieking Shack."

A larger scowl crossed Snape's face. "And the blood that covered the place? What do you know about that?"

"I believe Remus said that was where the werewolves from the Ministry escape ended up. Maybe they did it." He watched Snape from the corner of his eye and saw him give a shudder. He wasn't sure if it was from the memory of the shack's décor or if was from the thought of werewolves.

Harry finally asked a question of his own. "Professor Dumbledore, why would they use Polyjuice with Professor Trelawney?"

Snape make a clicking sound with his tongue as if the answer was obvious. Professor Dumbledore looked at him reprovingly then turned toward Harry. "My best guess would be that they wanted to install the double here at Hogwarts. Something similar to what they did with Barty Crouch Jr. As Sybil rarely eats with any of the other teachers, it would be relatively easy to keep up the charade."

At the end of their interview, Dumbledore brought Trelawney around. It had now been well over an hour. She instantly started babbling about lions, tigers, falcons who foretold of deadly enemies, invisible people, grims and various other portrayers of death. It was obvious that she had been through more than she could handle that evening. In a tiny corner of Harry's mind he was relieved. She would probably end up convinced that she had been overwrought and had delusions.

They were asked to escort her to the Hospital wing and to have themselves checked over as well. Harry had been glad that he would finally be able to get some headache relieving potion and maybe even some dreamless sleep potion.

* * *

They had all ended up sleeping in the Hospital wing that night. The next morning they had been told Wormtail's body had been recovered. Harry had conflicting feelings on that. He decided he'd sort them out another time. At least the Ministry was now giving more credence to the possibility that Sirius Black had been framed. It was a bit late, but at least the History books could be corrected. 

They had been allowed to go to Hogsmeade. Somehow their being late was overlooked. They wondered if an Imperius Curse had been used on Filch to make him believe all the students had returned and to close the gate. They weren't complaining. They weren't about to remind anyone of the truth.

Ron was able to refill his candy stock to his heart's content. Harry, however, wanted to go to the Shrieking Shack. "I just want to make sure the door was repaired correctly. I was trying to maintain the other spell and I'm not sure it took."

The friends agreed and made their way out of town towards the supposed haunted house. All seemed a bit on edge as they looked into the woods that lined the unused road they were following. They weren't scared of any violent spirits, but more of the memory of the Death Eater's that had roamed the woods the previous night. As they neared the shack, Harry saw that the door was open. His spell hadn't taken. Harry was about to cast it again when he saw a shadow moving inside of the house. He cautioned his friends to stay quiet as they approached the door.

As Harry entered the house he heard a sound in the living room. It almost sounded like the step of a hoof. His brow furrowed as he slowly peered around the corner. There were two Thestrals in the living room, mouthing at the dried blood on the floor, furniture and walls. Harry relaxed. "It's all right." The Thestrals looked at him with their blank eyes, bared their fangs again and went back to mouthing the dried blood.

His friends, who had been right behind him guarding his back and ready to attack, relaxed as well. All three came around the corner to see what it was and Ron and Hermione gave out short screams and hurriedly stepped back out of the way. Ginny looked at them in surprise and then looked around the room in confusion. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione as he was hit with a realization.

Ron spoke first. "What the bloody hell are those things?" He was staring, appalled, at the black, skeletal horse-like creatures. One of the creatures was a little unsettled and ruffled it leathery wings. Hermione took another step back with her eyes huge and her wand up and ready.

Harry walked over to it and put a calming hand against its reptilian neck and stroked it's mane. It looked back at him with white staring eyes then returned to his interrupted meal. Harry looked at his friends with sad understanding. "They're Thestrals," he quietly stated.

Hermione was the first to make the connection. "Wormtail," she said softly.

Harry nodded and started gently shooing the creatures out of the shack. Ginny tried her best to help him. She had heard what happened and had seen the green light, but couldn't see Wormtail fall from her angle so her helping was pretty useless as she couldn't see them. Ron seemed reluctant to even get near the creatures and seemed revolted that he'd ever ridden one. Hermione also kept her distance but seemed morbidly fascinated. Once they were out, Harry did a brief search to see if anything else had made its way inside. He didn't find anything, but did show the others the noisemakers the Marauders had used. Hermione helped him with a stronger locking charm she knew and they locked up the shack again.

As they seemed to have lost their enthusiasm for the day, they returned early to the castle.

* * *

Now it was the following week. They had finished their homework for the night and were just taking some time to unwind. Ginny was leaning with her back against Harry. Harry had his arms wrapped around her shoulders. Harry savored the feeling of being able to just hold on to Ginny. He'd had very little physical contact as a child and he knew he still had some issues on initiating contact, but Ginny was helping him with that. She was very tactile and thought nothing of snuggling up to Harry without invitation. This in turn was making Harry more open to touching. 

Right now he couldn't see her face but he could feel she was feeling tense. "What's the matter, Gin?"

Ron and Hermione looked over. Ginny took a deep breath and seemed to tense even more. Harry moved his hands to start massaging her neck. She moved her head to rub her cheek against his chest in appreciation. She let go of her breath and said softly, "I can't stop thinking about you not being able to change that night." Harry paused in his rubbing. "I know you haven't talked much about that other creature, but maybe it'd be a good idea to have a second form available for you to use."

Harry's memories of that dark creature rose in his mind. "I don't know. What if it's something really bad? I mean, the phoenix I knew. I can understand it. This thing…I couldn't even tell you what it was and it tried to attack me."

Hermione joined the conversation. "I'm sure it looked like it, but I did some research. My leopard made me think of it. It was pacing around like it wanted to attack, too, but it didn't. Eventually it settled down. I've looked it up and no person studying to become an animagus has ever been harmed while in the trance. If you had given it a bit more time, it might have been okay."

Ron looked at Hermione, then gave a nod. "I've thought about it, too. It doesn't really matter what the creature is. If you can transform, it's you that's controlling it. Even if you turned into a Dementor, it would still be you."

Hermione turned on Ron. "You couldn't turn into a Dementor! Humanoid forms aren't compatible to…"

Ron took her chin and kissed her. Hermione blinked, apparently losing her train of thought. "It doesn't matter. I only meant that no matter what body it had, it would be Harry's mind. It could be the most evil thing in the world and it wouldn't be because it would be Harry." Hermione seemed to take a minute to process what he said, then smiled and nodded.

Harry looked at his friends warily. "So I reckon you all want me to give the trance another go?" Each of the others nodded.

Ginny gave him a squeeze. "I think you should at least take another look. Like Ron said, it would be you. It's only a body."

Harry took a deep, shuddering breath. "All right. Let's do this before I lose my nerve. Hermione? Will you do the honors?"

Hermione beamed and came closer. It was obvious that Harry was reluctant as it took longer than usual to sink deeply into the trance. Finally he was there. He took a look around.

The phoenix was on its perch throwing light from its form. It was almost back to full growth. The light created flickering shadows on the outskirts of its beams. Harry searched the shadows. "I can't see anything else here. Wait! I can hear breathing. I can hear it breathing, but I can't see it." Harry slowly sank to the floor and sat cross-legged style near to where he could hear the breathing. Slowly the creature came out into the light. "I was right next to it, but couldn't see it until it left the shadow." Harry forced himself to stay still and just watch the creature. A low warning rumble sounded from its throat as it started pacing agitatedly around Harry's seated form. "It's form is that of a wolf, but not a normal wolf. The body structure is set up like the Thestrals. It's painfully thin and has fangs. The fangs look a little thinner and sharper than a Thestrals. The neck and head have that same dragonish look to it. There are wings folded closely to his body."

Finally the creature stopped its pacing and turned its face towards Harry. "It has the same eyes as a Thestral, with no pupil but they're green instead of white." The creature tossed its head a gave a silent snarl at Harry. Harry forced himself to stay still. Then the creature bowed its head and walked up to Harry to lay down in front of him. Harry gave a sigh of relief. "He's lying down in front of me now." Harry reached out to touch the creature and ran his hand along the leathery hide. He could feel every rib sticking out. He took a good look. From the clawed feet to the tip of the leathery tail. The wolf thing had a powerful chest and though smaller than Padfoot, Harry thought he could probably have given him a run for his galleons in a fight. Especially with those teeth. Something was bothering him about the fangs the creature had, but he couldn't put a finger on it.

When Harry came out of the trance he still had mixed feelings about the creature. It was obviously very aggressive, but it did calm down for him. He supposed Ron had a point that even if that was his body, it would be him inside.

His friends were all looking at him with cautious, but hopeful expressions on their faces. "So what was planned for this weekend?"

Ginny gave him a hug and Ron came to slap a hand on his back. "I have a Quidditch practice scheduled, but I'll excuse you from it. Maybe I'll let Ginny have a practice as Seeker and give the reserves a better practice in their positions."

Ginny put her hands on her hips. "Or maybe you'll just excuse me too and just practice with the other team members." Her expression was making it an order and she had the Molly Weasley look in her eye. Harry smiled.

Ron gulped. "Or maybe you can both be excused…"

Hermione gave a smile and patted him consolingly. "It will be okay, Ron. The next Gryffindor match isn't until May, right? I'm sure they work doubly hard in the upcoming practices to make up for it."

Harry and Ginny were both agreeing so Ron brightened and nodded his head.

"They're good for each other, you know." Ginny said later.

"Yeah, they calm each other down." Harry responded. He'd been noticing a few different times where Ron was able to stop Hermione going off on a tangent of facts or Hermione stopping Ron from getting upset about something minor. So far things were working out great.

* * *

On Friday night Ginny came back from studying in the library with Ron and Hermione alone. Harry had a potions tutoring session earlier and hadn't been able to come. Harry was surprised. 

"Where are Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny got a mischievous look on her face when she replied, "Oh, they said they just wanted to find a spot alone. While using the trunk was fine for all four of us, they wanted to find somewhere for just the two of them. They figured 'the room' would be able to provide."

It took Harry a moment to understand what she meant. Then his eyes opened wide. "They can't! I promised Dumbledore we would only use it for DA stuff." Harry got up and ran to get his map, then he and Ginny ran over to the Room of Requirement.

Ron and Hermione were just about to enter the room when Harry reached them. "Oi! Ron! Hermione! You can't go in there."

Ron had his hand on the door. "Why not, Harry? I mean, no offense, but snogging in front of my little sister isn't something I'm keen to do."

Harry was panting a little after his run. "I promised Dumbledore we would only use it for DA practice."

Ron's hand turned the knob and started to push the door open. "What harm could it be to just use it as a quiet…" His eyes got wide as he took in the décor of the room. "I…I see the point. Well, I guess we'll just be off then…."

Hermione's curiosity got the better of her and she pushed to door open wider. Her face immediately blushed a bright enough red to rival any Weasley. Ginny started to giggle and Harry took a look as well.

There was a large bed in the middle of the room. Harry reached out and took the knob from Ron's immobile hand and firmly closed the door. Later Ginny would laughingly tell him that Ron had been having trouble getting the room to appear, so it was Hermione who actually had made the door appear.

With the four friends firmly back in the hall Harry took out the map. "Look, you guys can borrow the map any time." He turned to the map. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Fine lines started to spread across the map. "There must be somewhere on here you can find to be alone together."

The lines on the map hesitated in their formation and it blanked out again. The friends looked at it in shock. Finally curling green letters started to form.

_Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aids to Magical Tryst-Seekers_

_Are proud to present_

_The Marauder's Map To Secret Locations_

"_Mr. Prongs would like to congratulate the young romance-seeker on his utilizing this amazing tool to aid in his pursuit of 'Romantique Liaisons'."_

"_Mr. Padfoot would like to also extend his congratulations and further endorse the full use of the locations about to be revealed in this wondrous map."_

"_Mr. Moony would like to comment that few could keep up with Mr. Padfoot's tom-catting life style."_

"_Mr. Padfoot deeply resents the implications implied by Mr. Moony…at least the likeness to a 'cat'."_

"_Mr. Wormtail does admit that Mr. Padfoot's ways more closely resemble a bird dog. Any bird within reach, the old dog."_

"_Mr. Prongs does concur with Mr. Wormtail and is surprised by his astuteness. The varied number of birds Mr. Padfoot samples is, indeed, impressive."_

"_Mr. Padfoot refuses to stay quiet while he is being so maligned. Mr. Padfoot would also like to point out that Mr. Prongs is no slouch either."_

"_Mr. Prongs would like to strongly refute the likeness of the pursuit to Mr. Padfoot. Mr. Prongs is only passing time until a certain doe opens her beautiful green eyes to Mr. Prong's charms."_

"_Mr. Moony would like to recall the conversation back to the map itself. The tryst-seeker is more likely interested in their own trysts and not of those of the brilliant map makers."_

"_Mr. Wormtail is of the same opinion and would like to explain that each location has been thoroughly tested and approved by a member of the Marauders. Mr. Moony, Mr. Wormtail, Mr. Padfoot, or Mr. Prong's own personal stamp of approval has been given. With no further ado…."_

Fine lines again spread throughout the parchment. This time tiny antlers, paw prints, moon symbols and mouse prints appeared in certain rooms. Harry was frozen. This was a bit more than he was ready for. Harry could feel a hand rest on his back. He swallowed hard and thrust the map into Ron's hands. Harry turned and walked away.

He walked until he reached the common room. He could hear Ginny calling his name, but he ignored her. He made his way to the trunk. He put the Ingravo belt on and got out the Spellseye. He started firing curse after curse wandlessly at it. He wanted to tire himself out. He'd swear when he'd miss and start again twice as hard. He refused to let himself think. He just gave himself over to the rhythm of the spell-casting.

Finally, drained, he collapsed to the floor. Once again he felt a hand on his back. He hadn't even realized Ginny was down there, just watching him. Harry's shoulders started to shake. He felt he was falling apart at the seams. He felt Ginny's arms go around him. He buried his face against her and hung on for dear life.

After collecting himself, he started to speak in a quiet, but tremulous voice. "Another one dead. I didn't even like him. I mean, he betrayed my parents, but…My dad, Sirius, and now Pettigrew…they all died because of something they were doing for me." Harry refused to cry, but something was tearing at him deep inside.

"You still have Remus."

Harry felt a foreboding shudder travel down his body. "Yeah. I still have Remus."

* * *

Ginny eventually coaxed Harry out to the common room. Ron and Hermione were waiting there. They figured the map explorations (among others) could wait until they were sure Harry was all right. They knew his emotions about Wormtail's death were all over the place. Hate, disgust and gratitude made for a bad combination. 

Harry did have contact with Remus via the mirror. Beyond acknowledging they both knew of Wormtail's death and the circumstances around it, they didn't speak of it. Harry imagined Remus probably had as many conflicting feelings as he did.

Saturday morning Ron was anxious to get out on the pitch. He was getting excited over his ideas of having the reserves take a larger roll in this practice. He didn't want something like a sneezing beater to be a factor in losing the game. Hermione was undecided on what to do. She volunteered to stay with Harry while he changed, but also had an essay for her Arithmancy class she needed to work on. Harry assured her that with Ginny there, he would be fine. Hermione could go off and study with his blessing.

That left Harry and Ginny. Harry was nervous. Despite Ginny's reassurances that everything would be fine, he was nervous. It wasn't the pain. He'd had that before and knew he could handle it, it was Ginny's reaction. If she reacted badly to something that was part of him….

It _was_ part of him. Something about how it stayed in the shadows to not be seen, seemed very familiar to Harry. The relationship it obviously had to Thestrals, bad luck death omens, well…enough said. And the fangs…he still couldn't put his finger on what it was about the fangs that disturbed him.

Ginny was getting impatient. "Were you going to do it this weekend? Or did I get the date wrong?"

Harry took a deep breath. "Just – don't be scared, Ginny."

"I'll be fine. Now concentrate!"

Harry did. He focused on the spell needed to transform the first time and on the creature he had seen. Soon the pressure in his bones and muscles started and his mind was filled with the pain.

When Harry could finally open his eyes he saw Ginny was across the room staring at him with a shocked expression. She had a vibrant glow around her and looked beautiful. He closed his eyes with a whimper. She hated him. If he could he would transform back immediately, but he didn't have the strength yet. Ginny hated him. He curled up in a ball of pain.

"Harry?" Harry felt a brief touch and he flinched from it. "Harry, I'm sorry. I was surprised. I thought I knew what this body would look like, but I couldn't know. I just have to get used to it is all. Please let me help you?"

Harry turned and looked up at her. She was visibly disturbed by his eyes and he looked away. Her hand cupped his chin and turned his face back towards herself. Her hands actually touched the fangs that never quite were totally concealed. Her features were sincere as she looked into his blank eyes. "I will get used to it. Just give me a little time."

She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at the skeletal body. "You know, it almost reminds me of what Crookshanks looks like when you give him a bath, just to a greater extent. I helped Hermione once when he got into a mess. He's really quite thin under all his bushy fur. You just don't have the fur. He just withers away to nothing."

She reached out a hand and tentatively touched his back. She tried to pet him. A peaceful buzz seemed to settle in his mind as she did so. It felt great. The petting seemed to drive away the fog the pain caused and replaced it with a feeling of bliss similar to how the Imperius Curse had felt. The main difference being that no one was commanding him to do something against his will.

Ginny continued her dialog as she explored the different features of this form below her. She seemed to feel talking out loud and taking one feature at a time helped her deal with the situation better. Harry liked hearing her talk. Her voice had a soothing rhythm to his ears. He twitched one. His nose twitched, too. She also smelled good. He licked his chops.

"You've always been on the thin side, but this…I'd be worried if I hadn't heard that Thestrals were described something like this. _Oh!_ It's okay. You just startled me when you licked your lips like that. I'm fine." Ginny was sitting cross-legged next to him. Harry put his head on her leg.

"Your skin…it's different. It's not like the hair is just missing, the skin seems thicker somehow, more protected. I wonder if you would be kept warm in cold weather? Your teeth are quite sharp." Ginny started tracing the outline of one of his fangs. Harry wriggled a little more into her lap. He just wanted to be closer to the comfort of those hands that traveled his bony frame. His tail gave a short thump.

She started tracing a ridge on his forehead. The shape was there, but the scar couldn't be seen. He shifted again and one paw was behind her while the other reached across, over her other leg. He almost had her pinned where she sat. She kept talking, focusing on his paws, tail, ears. She was fascinated by his wings, but didn't want to risk hurting him to try to unfurl them. Finally the pain was controllable and Harry lifted his gaze to Ginny's face. She smiled down into his strange eyes with acceptance. Harry was satisfied.

Harry tensed and started focusing on changing back. The stretching and condensing of bones until they shattered and the fire of them remolding along with the tearing of muscles started over again. As Harry came back to himself he found himself tightly holding on to Ginny around her waist. His head was still in her lap. He groaned.

Ginny was brushing back the hair on his head. "If you'd given me some warning I could have made you more comfortable."

Harry gave her a weak grin. "I'm not complaining. I like it here."

She lightly slapped his shoulder, but Harry could tell she was pleased. Harry turned serious. "Thank you, Ginny."

Ginny seemed to understand he was thanking her for not turning away from him. "Shadow was more than a little shocking at first, but he's not really all that bad."

"Shadow, huh?"

"Yes. Shadow. It's a rather obvious name, but fits him perfectly. I'll be curious to see what turns up when you can explore him."

Hermione came down a little later. She was disappointed Harry had already changed back, but she had been intent on getting her essay finished. "Did you take a picture?"

"I'm not sure it'd even be a good idea to have a picture of him." Ginny seemed to think it over. "I mean it's possible to have a picture of a lion, or leopard, falcon, or even a phoenix, but if anyone saw a picture of Shadow…. There would be more questions than any of us want to answer."

Hermione looked disappointed, but accepted it. "You're probably right. I'll see, what did you call him? Shadow? next week."

By the time Ron came, Harry was already feeling much better. Ginny had brought and ate lunch with him. Ron helped Harry out of the trunk. Neville was digging through his trunk for a Herbology book when they came out. He saw the shape Harry was in and was surprised. "I thought he'd already changed?"

Ron was feeling quite talkative. "Oh, he had. But Harry had a second form. He was a bit reluctant to use it for some reason, but we managed to convince him."

Ginny was glaring at Ron. Harry thought she understood how Ron didn't have a clue why Harry was so reluctant to change. Ginny understood. She was glad he had changed, but she understood why he had not wanted to. Ron made it all sound so simple.

Neville nodded towards Harry. "So what else is he?"

"Some kind of wolf," Ron answered very nonchalantly. "Hey, next weekend we plan to change together. D'you and Luna want to see?"

Neville gave kind of a sick grin. "I think Luna would love to." Harry noted that Neville, himself, didn't seem too thrilled with the idea.

* * *

Harry spent most of the weekend sleeping. It was funny how quickly you forgot how painful something was. Monday came and he was scrambling with his homework, but they did hold a DA meeting that night. Blaise and Audra had even been convinced to take a look. 

The cover was that Hermione, as a Prefect, invited Audra, the Head Girl, and Blaise came along as her boyfriend. Audra had been surprised that there were several lower year Slytherins in the room. The DAs numbers had grown near to seventy and Harry was sure that some of the Slytherin younger years reported back to Malfoy on what they did here, not necessarily because they wanted to, but because it kept the peace in their common room. Harry had a feeling, though, that they mostly reported on the second half of the study group, not so much the first half.

Harry started showing the restraining ropes he'd used on the Professors Trelawney. He and others who understood the spell walked around the classroom to help others. During the second half, Harry once again formed groups so they could study what they wanted. Most groups were formed by year so they could practice spells they deemed important from their schoolbooks. Other groups formed to practice the Patronus or other specific spells.

Soon the room was full of noise and Harry took a good look around, trying to see it from Blaise or Audra's point of view. It really was quite impressive. A large number of the school's population was here in this room, practically a whole house. Not everyone came to every session, of course, but an amazing number did. As there were so many people, the older years almost always had someone who could help the younger years with what they wanted to learn and Harry could spend more time helping the older years or specialized spell groups.

Blaise had gone by the sixth year students. They were all in the same DADA class and were covering something that he and Harry had covered the week before in Harry's potion tutoring session. The others were a little reserved to see him there, but after he was able to correct a movement they were doing wrong, they loosened up a little. After a while he wandered away, just to watch. It almost seemed like a self-taught defense class with Harry as the overall supervisor. Currently he was demonstrating a spell to the seventh years, for Merlin's sake. He had to admit, Potter was good. After a couple of tries, two of the seventh years finally understood and Potter moved on. The two who understood took over the explanations to the others.

Potter came up to the dark eyed boy. "This is more fun, isn't it." It was more of a statement than a question.

"Makes for a large classroom. Every session like this?"

"Pretty much. I asked the people from last year what they wanted and this is what we came up with. The first half I come up with something defensive I think could be useful that might not be taught at Hogwarts and then the second half we can focus on what we should be learning in class or practice whatever takes our fancy."

"Doesn't it feel odd teaching seventh years?"

Harry gave a lopsided grin. "Not as odd as it did last year!"

"A fifth year teaching seventh years? Ever think you should become a teacher instead of an auror?"

Harry tilted his head as if he'd never thought of it. "Nah. I just happened to know what they wanted to learn. I don't think I could do it for real. I just try to help with what I know."

Suddenly a blue light came their way. "Hang on. _Absorbio_!" Harry formed a triangle with his wand tip and the blue light hit a shield and dissipated. "Gotta keep your eyes open in here."

Some fourth years across the way apologized sheepishly for the stray spell. Harry just smiled and let them get back to work.

"What was that shield? Why didn't you just use _Protego_?"

"In a room as crowded as this someone could get hurt by a rebounded spell. For weaker curses, the _Absorbio_ shield can dissipate the curse. Its drawback is that it can't deflect more than one at a time and won't hold up to more powerful curses. We should learn about them next year if we get a competent teacher."

Blaise looked at him in disbelief. "And you don't think you could be a teacher?"

Harry looked a little embarrassed that he knew that much. "Well, I learn as much in here as anyone. If someone wants to learn about something, I have to look it up so I can help him. Doing that helps me learn, too." Harry was absentmindedly rubbing his shoulder.

"What's the matter with your shoulder?"

Harry looked surprised that he was rubbing it. The aches from the weekend hadn't all left yet. "I overdid it and pulled a muscle this weekend. It's still a little sore."

A snort came from their side. Fifth years were practicing some of their hexes and Ginny had been listening in on Harry's conversation. "Yeah, pulled muscle."

Harry frowned at her warningly then gave a smile. "Blaise, have you met Ginny Weasley? Ginny, this is Blaise Zabini."

Ginny smiled impishly at Harry then turned to shake hands with Blaise. "Pleased to meet you."

Across the room came an excited shout. "Harry!"

Harry looked up to see Neville with a silver bulldog prancing around him. "Way to go, Nev!" Harry turned to Blaise. "Excuse me. This is important." Blaise nodded and Harry wove through the room until he reached Neville's side.

"Neville's been trying for a year. Harry never let him lose faith that he could do it. He does that a lot. He doesn't see it himself, but most people here would do almost anything for him." Ginny turned to look at Blaise. "I like your idea of him becoming a teacher. He really would be a natural at it. I don't think he'd let himself seriously think about it until after Voldemort's gone," Blaise flinched, "but after that I'll suggest it to him again."

"You state that like it's an obvious thing. You are aware that You-Know-Who has threatened Potter personally?" Blaise's dark eyes stared at Ginny with a serious expression.

"Yes. But did you know that Harry had another confrontation with him on Valentine's Day?" Blaise was obviously shocked. "I didn't hear the whole conversation, but I did hear Harry call him a moron." Ginny smiled at the memory. Blaise started to hyperventilate. "Voldemort and his Death Eaters didn't like that too much, but Harry got away again." Ginny was pleased that, that time, Blaise didn't flinch at Voldemort's name. She figured he was still too shocked by the 'moron' comment. "Harry's been face to face with him more times than I care to think about. He's always managed to get away. One of these times he'll figure out how beat him. I have no doubt." Actually Ginny just didn't allow herself to have doubts, because the alternative was unacceptable.

Harry would have been surprised, but Ginny wouldn't, to learn that after the meeting the younger Slytherins pulled their wands on Blaise and Audra and threatened them to keep their mouths shut about the first half of the class. They only allowed talk of the second half of the practices to get out in the Slytherin common room. With some amusement Blaise and Audra agreed.

* * *

Saturday was Ron's seventeenth birthday. Harry had given him a set of books recommended by Griphook. Ron had been a bit disgusted that Harry would get him books at first until he saw what they were. He was quite anxious now to get some time to look through them. 

It was a cold, but clear day and Ron was happy. Harry wished he'd give it a rest about being of age. Harry still had another five months to go. Sometimes it was the pits being on the younger end of the class. Harry felt the muggle equivalent was probably like the feeling of being last to take drivers' ed. Ron and Hermione would be able to go for their apparition licenses right after Hogwarts got out. Harry would still have to wait half the summer.

Mid-morning the four animagi friends along with Neville and Luna made their way to the Forbidden Forest. Neville and Luna were only planning to watch the transformations. Even Neville had some curiosity about the forms. The only one he'd actually seen was Harry's phoenix. Being a Gryffindor, he was curious to see a lion up close in a safe environment. Harry would have rather not have to change to Shadow at all. He still didn't like the form even though he knew Ginny had a point that it would be good to know what that form could do. You never knew when something of it could come in handy.

Ron started the transformation. It was his day and the others didn't begrudge him his chance to show off. A Gryffindor being a lion was quite something. It was also a strong, large animal, which said something about his magical strength.

Hermione transformed next, followed by Ginny and Harry with his phoenix form. Neville looked around at the different animals. "You're making yourselves a right little zoo here."

After a couple of minutes of Neville and Luna admiring their different forms, the teens changed back. Ron looked at Harry. "What about your wolf thing?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure you want to see it? It's not very nice looking." He turned towards Neville and Luna. "We're not sure what it is. It looks similar to a Thestral, but mixed with a wolf instead of a horse."

Neville braced himself, Ron and Hermione looked curious, Ginny smiled encouragingly at him and Luna just had her usual slightly unfocused look about her. Harry took a deep breath and changed.

Ron and Hermione immediately gave a startled shout and stepped back. Instantly their wands were up.

"Move away from him slowly, Ginny," said Ron in a low, tense voice. The wolf's head ducked as if it had been hit.

Ginny glared at Ron and Hermione while Luna calmly made her way to Harry and started to pet him. "Whatever is the matter with you, Ronald Weasley? This is Harry! Remember, 'Doesn't matter what the body's like, it's still Harry inside'? Ring any bells?"

Harry sank to his belly and put his head down. Luna seemed fascinated by his form. Neville, too, seemed more curious than cautious. They had both been able to see Thestrals all their years at Hogwarts. Harry supposed the shock of the form wasn't as new to them.

Neville came closer, too. "Are those wings, Harry? Are they like the Thestrals?"

Harry got up and obligingly spread them out. He was curious himself. The wings seemed powerful, but light. Of what Harry could see, they reminded him of a dragon's wing. Light bones ran through it, with a thin, but strong membrane holding it together. He wondered if he would to be able to fly as fast as the Thestrals had the year before.

Harry chanced another glance at Ron and Hermione. Ron had lowered his wand and Hermione's was no longer in sight. She was beginning to get that analytical gleam in her eyes. Upon meeting the strange looking eyes of Shadow, however, Ron tensed again. Ginny was trying to pull him closer.

"Just take it one feature at a time. Shadow's really not that bad. A bit on the thin side, but Harry's always been thin." Ron slowly started to relax again.

Luna was doing something by Shadow's mouth. She was gently pulling the upper lip back to view his teeth. "So, Harry, what kind of venom do you think you have?"

Harry blinked in shock. He instantly transformed back to himself. Luna still had hold of his lip. "Venom? What do you mean _venom_?"

"Why, your fangs, of course. They're very similar to a cobra's fangs. They're longer than usual and recede back so you can't bite yourself, just like the snake's."

Harry was beginning to feel he was about to turn as green as Ron just got. He just sat there feeling floored. That's what had been bothering him about the fangs. They weren't the tearing kind like the Thestrals or a wolfs. They were slimmer and curved back. The bit you could see when the mouth had been closed weren't vertical, but more horizontal.

Neville was looking at Luna inquiringly. "So Harry's wolf is part snake? Cobra?"

Luna finally let go of Harry's upper lip. "Looks that way. Wolf, Thestral, King Cobra. Interesting combination. I almost wish my dad could see him. I don't think he'd believe me otherwise."

Now that was saying something. The Quibbler was widely known for believing in stories most others scoff at. If Luna thought her dad wouldn't believe in Shadow….

Neville started to laugh quietly to himself. Ron looked over in disbelief. "What do you find so funny about this?"

Neville looked back at them with a smile still on his face. "Well, you know that I've had Trevor for years. I've always been interested in amphibians. But I've also been interested in reptile's. But there is no way that Gran would let me keep a snake in the manor. You know how often Trevor gets away. Could you imagine the reaction to a snake?"

Hermione was now looking curious. "What does that have to do with Shadow?"

"Shadow? Good name that. Anyway, the King Cobra eats snakes. I just think that's a good sign." Neville looked back at Harry with a small smile on his face. "If you need some help figuring out what the venom does, I have Professor Sprout's permission to use the Greenhouse Testing area?"

Hermione was now interested. "What's the Greenhouse Testing Area?"

Neville shifted slightly. "You all know how I like Herbology. I've spent a lot of time that past couple of years sort of hanging out by the Greenhouses, offering to help Madam Sprout. She's taught me a few things not in the regular classes. There are a lot of poisonous plants. The Venomous Tentacula to name just one. There's a whole testing area for seeing what kind of poisons a plant may have or what it may do to a person. I would imagine the venom could be tested in the same way."

Hermione's eyes were shining. "Do you think I could help you? Oh, that would be so wonderful!" Ron rolled his eyes.

"Sure. We'll have to be careful, though. We don't want Professor Sprout knowing what we're testing."

Hermione was just bubbling with joy now. Ginny took over the conversation. "That's great, but until everything is ready for that, we might as well find out more about Shadow and what he can do. Harry, change back."

Harry's gaze swung to Ron. Ron looked back at him a bit embarrassed. "They're right. I'm sorry I reacted badly. But the eating snakes thing is a good sign. Not that I expect you'll eat…." Ron just sort of drifted off, leaving his sentence hanging.

Harry gave a laugh. "I don't expect to eat him, either. There must be some other way." Harry's gaze moved around his circle of friends. "Are you all okay with Shadow?"

Hermione nodded. "It was just the shock. I know you said those creatures we saw two weeks ago were Thestrals, but I still wasn't ready. I'm ready now. I've made a list based on your description of things we should test. Shadows obviously a magical creature so we should test if he's invisible, like the Thestrals are…or were." Hermione got out a notebook.

"I can see him, but I can't see Thestrals," Ginny said.

"Okay, that's done," she marked something off on her notebook. "What about flying?"

They all looked at Harry expectantly. Harry changed to Shadow, unfurled his wings and took off in the direction of Hogsmeade. Before he knew it, he was high over the town. Whoops! He hadn't meant to actually go that far. He turned around and headed back. He lightly landed in front of his friends.

Ginny's eyes were wide. "I don't think I'll be able to beat that in a race. I bet you're as fast as the Thestrals are. I had never flown as fast as I had with them."

Hermione was scribbling in her notebook. "You said you couldn't see him when he was in the shadows. Do you think it was just because he's black and hard to see or do you think there's something more? Why don't we move a little deeper where there are more shadows and we can test it?"

Neville decided he'd go back to Hogwarts and see what he could set up and get as supplies for the testing. He planned to meet with them in another two hours. Luna also decided to head back. She would keep Neville company for a while.

The four friends traveled deeper into the Forbidden Forest. The canopy got denser the farther they went in. Hermione stopped them. There were large boulders that cast substantial shadows. Harry walked into one, and to his friends eyes, disappeared.

"Oi, Harry?" Ron followed him into the shadow and bumped into him. "It's like the shadow makes him invisible. I can touch him, but I still can't see him."

"Hmmm," Hermione was writing furiously in her notebook again. "Not too useful during the day, but dead useful at night."

They tested a few more things. Harry had pretty decent night vision and could see something around living plants and animals. Hermione thought it may be the life force. His nose was sensitive to decay or death. Ron and Hermione also were more sensitive to smells in their forms. Finally they figured enough was enough and decided to just play for a while in their forms.

Harry could fly as Shadow, but couldn't land in the trees. His claws weren't made to hold on, so he changed back to Flame.

When their two hours were up, Hermione herded them back to Hogwarts. She was anxious to meet with Neville and see what testing they could do. Ron got the Marauder's Map so they could track where any other students or teachers may be while they did their testing.

They met up with Neville, near Greenhouse twelve. The coast was clear so Neville brought them inside. Neville had about twenty-five jars set up to collect venom. Harry changed into Shadow and bit through the cloth top of the jars. He was able to inject venom into twenty-three jars before he felt that was the last he had. He changed back. "Sorry, that's all there is for now."

Neville nodded. "That's more than I thought you'd have. If it holds true with the King Cobra, you'll have as much as this again within 48 hours. We'll get started on the testing and let you know what we find." Hermione was bouncing with excitement next to Neville. Harry looked at Ron and Ginny and shrugged. Harry, Ron and Ginny left. They would keep watch for others with the map. If someone did come by, he could flash Hermione out of there. They headed to the trunk to spend time alternating between one keeping watch and the other two practicing spells. It was a long afternoon.


	17. A Death in the Family

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett. The movie was Star Trek III. I couldn't help the association of the ears with some Vulcans vs. house elves.

* * *

Chapter 17 A Death in the Family

Hermione came in later that night with the results of the venom testing. "None of the anti-venoms we tested worked with it, but there may be others we don't know about. One dose of venom or bite seems to cause a temporary paralysis, similar to a _Stupefy_ curse. It's quite fast acting, but not instantaneous. I'd say about thirty seconds to take effect. It lasts around thirty minutes or so, depending on body mass and physical condition of course. Two doses could cause permanent damage, but probably not fatal, we think. The subject may be out for a day or so and have muscular damage after that. So, if you do have to bite someone, only bite once. Anything more could result in permanent damage or death."

Harry had an aversion to biting anyone after the Mr. Weasley episode, but he imagined if it was an emergency he could probably do it.

* * *

Harry was getting feelings of anticipation again that weren't his own. The strange thing was he was also receiving flashes of pain. He couldn't imagine what was hurting Voldemort. He told Professor Dumbledore in his Occlumency lesson, but there wasn't a whole lot they could do about it. Harry couldn't determine what Voldemort was anticipating. The connection seemed to be changing again, possibly getting stronger. Harry could still block it, but he was concerned about what was happening.

Ron was cracking the whip regarding Quidditch practice. Harry and Ginny did work twice as hard as they had promised in the following practices due to their weekend off. Ron decided the whole team and reserves should watch Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff on Saturday and take notes. They would then compare notes in the next practice. Harry wondered if it was Hermione's influence on him or just Ron being Ron and not wanting to take the only notes. With others taking them too, he wouldn't have to be as precise in his own.

Slytherin beat Hufflepuff and had pulled ahead of Gryffindor in points. Katie seemed to be all smiles that she wasn't captain in the upcoming all important final game. Ron's ideas of the notes ended up being a good one. Euan noticed that Goyle always tended to hit the bludgers across body. Ron decided they could use that and come up with plays to exploit that weakness. Natalie pointed out that the opening drive of the chasers each time was the Porskoff Ploy. Ron decided that could be easy to defend, but they would have to keep a sharp lookout that it's not just a maneuver to throw them off their guard.

It was Wednesday, almost mid-way through the month of March before Harry's life made another strange turn. Daydreaming through DADA, thinking about Ginny, class was interrupted when Professor McGonagall asked for Harry to be excused. Professor Vigori didn't seem to want to let him go, but couldn't deny Professor McGonagall, so Harry shrugged to Ron and Hermione, gathered his books, and followed his Professor out the door.

Professor McGonagall escorted Harry to the Headmaster's office. Professor Dumbledore was looking grave behind his desk.

"I have received a letter requesting your presence at your aunt and uncle's house." Harry looked confused at his Headmaster's words.

"Do you know why?" He couldn't imagine the Dursleys ever requesting his presence for anything.

"They are your family and I'm afraid they have suffered a tragic loss. I believe your uncle's sister, Marge, has passed away in an automobile accident." Harry's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"…And they want me there, why?" The Headmaster looked at him reprovingly. Harry supposed it did sound rather callous, but it was how he felt. "Professor Dumbledore, Aunt Marge has never done anything but insult me, my parents, or sic her dogs on me. She would always make comments of how great Dudley was and how _I_ should have been dumped at an orphanage as a baby or if I had been one of her dogs, drowned at birth."

Harry could hear Professor McGonagall shifting behind him and thought he heard a sniff of disapproval from her. Professor Dumbledore closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nevertheless, you are part of their family. If your aunt, uncle and cousin feel comfort with your presence, shouldn't you offer it? Also, your aunt has left you a bequest. Perhaps she had a change of heart near the end."

Harry was afraid his expression was as skeptical as he felt. If there was a bequest of some sort, he doubted it was anything he'd want. The only thing he could think of was that Dursleys might feel obligated to have him with them for appearances. He could see that more than them actually wanting him there. He took a deep breath and tried to resign himself to his fate. "When do I go and how long will it be for?"

Professor Dumbledore gave him a small approving smile. "You should return to your dormitory and pack for at least two days. The funeral is tomorrow and your uncle asked that you remain the day after as well. You shall be returning to Hogwarts the following evening. After you pack you should return to Professor McGonagall's office and she will give you a portkey to bring you to Arabella Figg's home." Harry tensed up.

Professor McGonagall laid a hand on his shoulder. "I have talked to Mr. Lupin and he told me of your fears with portkeys," Harry didn't know if he'd call them _fears_, exactly. "I understand that this will be another sad occasion to use one, but you must realize that portkeys are the most efficient and secure way for a minor to travel long distances. If you wish, I shall accompany you to Arabella Figg's home."

Harry forced himself to smile. "I appreciate the thought, Professor, but it won't be necessary." She gave his shoulder a pat and stepped back again.

Professor Dumbledore gave a mildly curious look to Professor McGonagall then continued with what he was saying before. "Friday evening you will be escorted back to Arabella Figg's residence and portkeyed back to Hogwarts."

"Yes, sir." Harry took that as his dismissal and exited. Professor McGonagall stayed behind. He made his way to Gryffindor Tower. He was undecided if he should take his whole trunk or only a backpack with a few clothes in it. He decided to just take the backpack. He figured the Dursleys wouldn't like it if a trunk suddenly appeared when he hadn't carried one with him. He didn't want to antagonize them now.

He wrote a brief note to Ron and Hermione explaining what happened and another to Ginny. He sealed Ginny's and left it with the other one on Ron's bed. He figured it was an easy way to get it to her.

Harry looked at his watch and noticed he had fifteen minutes to get to Professor McGonagall's office. He decided he might as well make his way there now. He slung his bag over his shoulder and left the Tower.

He forced himself to knock on Professor McGonagall's door. She bade him enter and offered him a seat and a biscuit while they waited. He ate the biscuit distractedly as he thought about asking something that had been bothering him. "Professor, it was a natural crash she died from, wasn't it?"

Understanding filled the stern professor's face. "Yes, Mr. Potter. It has been thoroughly investigated and there are no signs of any magic involved. This is not a trap. It is reported that there was multi-auto crash on the M1 near Northampton. Many muggles died in it and there are several more seriously injured." Harry felt a bit better about the circumstances now. He had been afraid it was a trick to get him to leave the school. He wondered sometimes if he was getting slightly paranoid.

Finally the time came when Professor McGonagall held out an old quill. Harry took it and his professor counted down and he was gone.

* * *

Harry appeared in Mrs. Figg's living room. "Oh, hello, Harry. I suppose there's no time for tea, but would you like a biscuit to take with you? You could eat it on the way home."

Harry was about to refuse since it was so close to dinnertime, but decided to accept because she looked so hopeful. Harry remembered Mrs. Figg apologizing for giving him such a hard time when he was younger last year. He wondered if she was trying to make up for it.

She pressed him to take several along with him. He put all but one in his bag and started out for Privet Drive, slowly munching on the biscuit.

When he reached number four, he was noticed immediately by his aunt who had been peering out through the curtains. She met him at the front door. Her face was stony and unforgiving. "Get inside, boy." She shoved a small plate with a sandwich towards him. "Take that and eat it in your room. You're to stay there until we call for you tomorrow morning."

Harry wasn't sure why he was surprised. For some reason, he'd expected them to be nicer to him this time. So much for wanting comfort from him. He wondered briefly why they'd really asked him home. He hurried to his room before they decided to take his bag away from him and heard the lock click into place behind him. He regretted now that he didn't have his trunk with him. Once again his mantra started up in his mind. 'Two days. He could last two days.'

Harry hadn't brought any type of entertainment along so he pretty much spent the evening staring out the window at the stars. The night was clouding over so he knew he wouldn't be able to see them for long. The telly had been removed from his room before he had arrived so there was nothing else to do. The stale bread with cheese didn't fill him up so he was thankful to Mrs. Figg for pressing the additional biscuits on him before he left her house.

In the morning he heard the lock click and went to use the loo. When he returned it was to see his aunt going through his bag he'd brought with him. Harry leaned in the doorway and raised an eyebrow.

She noticed him there and unrepentantly said, "I'm just making sure you didn't take any of your freak things here. I'm glad to see you were sensible for once." Of course, Harry had his wand strapped to his forearm, but he wasn't about to tell her that. She stiffly pointed to an outfit she had laid on his bed. "You are to put that on. You will behave at the funeral and at the solicitor's office. It would be best if you didn't speak at all. I swear you will regret it if you do anything to bring attention to yourself on this day." With that she turned and left, locking the door behind her.

Harry turned to the bed. There was a black outfit laid out for him. He put it on. It wasn't five times too big so he figured she must have gotten it from the local charity shop. It was an inch too short in the arms and legs. Harry shook his head and waited to be called. Apparently he wasn't getting any breakfast this morning.

Around 9:30 the door was unlocked and he was commanded to get to the car. Harry climbed into the back with Dudley. Dudley gave him a shove to make him get in faster. Harry looked over to Dudley. Dudley smirked at him with the knowing look he used to give Harry when he knew Harry would have a punishment coming up for something and be forced to do some awful chore. Harry frowned.

They drove for two hours to a parish church where Aunt Marge's funeral was to be held. Harry sat through it making no noise and wishing he wasn't existing here. He would much rather be back at Hogwarts. He had no idea why his 'family' requested him to be here for this. Afterwards there was a brief spread laid out for the mourners to snack on. Harry grabbed some food despite the disapproving glare of his aunt and made to blend in with the shadows in the corner. Same as throughout his childhood, people paid little attention to him as they went about spreading their gossip about the recently deceased.

"…heard the poor dear is actually the one who caused the pile-up."

"…drunk as a skunk.…"

Harry's attention caught. He listened more closely.

"Oh, yes, I heard that, too. The reports said her alcohol level was way over the limit. Never could hold her brandy. Actually, I'm amazed it took so long as it did before something like this happened. She's been brought up on charges before. Even lost her license a few years back."

Harry gave a brief snort as the irony hit him. He remembered back before his third year. She accused his parents of being drunk when they died in a car crash.

Harry didn't have a lot of regrets of Aunt Marge dying, but he did feel bad for all the innocent muggles she had killed or maimed because of her actions. No wonder Aunt Petunia didn't want him talking at all. She probably knew this and didn't want Harry rubbing it in. Harry didn't have any desire to talk of it at all. He just wanted to get back to Hogwarts.

Eventually he saw the Dursleys getting ready to leave. He joined them at the car. He still hadn't said one word. On the way to the solicitor's, Uncle Vernon was speculating on what was left to them. Harry knew that Uncle Vernon did care for his sister, but decided it must be a different caring than what he knew about. He could never imagine speculating so crassly on what he was to inherit so soon after a loved one's death. When Sirius had died…Harry hadn't even wanted to think about it weeks later.

They reached the small county solicitor office and left the car. Entering the office he saw there was another elderly gentleman waiting who had Ripper on a leash. Ripper started barking madly when they came in. As Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia made introductions to the man, apparently Colonel Fubster, Ripper tugged on the leash hard enough to force the man to let go and dashed off towards Harry.

Harry had had enough. He let Shadow come briefly to the surface and let loose a low warning growl. It was more of a vibration than a sound. It was almost comical how Ripper stopped stone still, then turned tail to hide behind the colonel. Harry was glad none of the others could seem to hear him. He was still standing back by the entrance door. Conversation briefly stopped and Aunt Petunia looked at him suspiciously, but Harry kept his face expressionless and eventually she turned back to hear what Colonel Fubster was saying.

"The poor thing has been acting rather lost since Marjorie passed on. Not quite himself, poor thing." The discussion continued until an inner door opened and the secretary ushered them into the inner sanctum of the office.

The will reading was about what Harry expected. Marge had left her house and property to Uncle Vernon, a trust amount to her 'neffy-poo' Dudley, and a larger amount to Ripper who was to be in the care of Colonel Fubster along with her other bulldogs. To Harry, the insolent, ungrateful, burden on her brother's family, she left a box of dog biscuits.

After the paperwork was finished, the Dursleys and Harry returned to the car for the return trip to Privet Drive. Aunt Petunia was making plans.

"In the morning, we'll bring Diddykins to the station so he can return to school, then head out to see the property. I must say that I'm glad we won't have to deal with those dogs." Aunt Petunia scrunched her nose. "As much as she liked them, I just couldn't abide with the mess they would cause. I hope the place doesn't need too much fixing or cleaning up."

They were almost to number four. Finally Harry asked, "Do you want me to return to school early? I'll gladly leave to stay out of your way."

Dudley snickered and Uncle Vernon turned to cast a malevolent look at Harry. "Oh no, boy. You're going to help clean up Marge's place and pack things up to be sold. You'll be staying until everything is ready and in tip top condition."

Harry's temper rose. He began to see red. "You brought me here to be your slave labor?" Harry shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you. Your sister dies and the first thing you do is call me out of my school in case she leave her house to you so I can fix it up for you?"

Aunt Petunia was getting pale. A sure sign she was getting angry. "It was not that way. We weren't going to have you come at all until Mr. Malison suggested that it was nice that we had a son who could help with the cleaning. Well, I wasn't about to have Dudley do it…"

Harry tuned her out. "Mr. Malison?" Something about that name sent a chill through him. He knew the meaning in old English was 'a curse'. Something wasn't feeling right. "Who is he? What does he look like?"

Aunt Petunia now had high red patches in her cheeks for being interrupted with a question. "Not that it's any of your business, but he's a very high-classed gentleman Vernon ran into the other day." She looked over to Vernon as if for confirmation.

"He doesn't have white-blond long hair by any chance, does he?" Harry almost dreaded the answer.

"His hair was short. Very proper. It was a white-blond color, but it wasn't long like how some of those layabout freaks you know wear it." Harry had started to relax with the beginning part of the sentence, but by the end he just knew….

They had pulled into the driveway of Four Privet Drive and Harry figured that as soon as they were in the house they would be safe. He'd find a way to not go to Aunt Marge's tomorrow. He was sure it would be a trap. Harry rubbed at his scar. It was starting to prickle.

He looked around anxiously as they made their way into the house. He started to breathe a sigh of relief as he closed the front door when he heard a scream from Aunt Petunia and pain burst from his scar. Suddenly there were dark cloaked and white-masked wizards surrounding him and his relatives. Harry forced his eyes open to see Voldemort standing near where the fireplace had been in the living room. The Dursleys were all huddled together, Dudley trying unsuccessfully to hide behind his parents. Harry's arms were grabbed and his sleeve rolled up to reveal his wand. It was removed from its holster and brought to Voldemort.

Voldemort grinned with glee. "Harry Potter. So we meet again. This time there will be no running off; no escape." Harry was struggling in the arms of his two captors. Voldemort walked over and reached a long cold finger out to touch Harry's cheek as he did at his re-birth. Harry flinched at the searing pain his scar caused him. "You are probably wondering why your 'blood protection' isn't working any longer. Well, I'll tell you. After my re-birth I could touch you without pain. Well, pain to me. I believe _you_ still feel it. I couldn't, however, breach the wards around this house. The blood I took from you wasn't enough to get inside. So I spent the last month undergoing some rituals to multiply your blood's effect. I could have killed you at your recently departed aunt's house, but I wanted to do it here. Here, where you mother's blood dwells. Dumbledore thinks he was so wise to protect you here, but I will show the world that he is nothing but an old fool. I have the power to break the strongest protection he puts into place."

Harry was trying to think fast. This was a very bad situation. He and all three Dursleys were caught by Death Eaters and he knew there was very little chance for any of them to get out of this alive. He was trying to keep the occlumency shields strong in the background of his mind. Voldemort hadn't tried anything yet, but Harry knew he probably would. Harry tried to run through all the stuff he knew about Voldemort, trying to find any weakness.

Voldemort looked over to the Death Eater holding Harry's wand. "I think it would be appropriate if the boy's own wand was used to do this. I'll allow you the pleasure of killing off his muggle family, Lucius."

Family. He hated and killed his muggle family. "No." Harry's voice was loud and strong. It wasn't a plea; it was a statement. Voldemort looked at him with idle curiosity. "If anyone is going to torture or kill them, it will be me." Again he said it in a no nonsense way. Voldemort's attention was now solidly on him. He held a hand up to still Malfoy. He looked directly into Harry's eyes and started to pull memories.

Harry watched as memory after memory was run before his eyes. Not surprisingly, he didn't even have to edit anything. Harry being thrown into the cupboard by Uncle Vernon; Aunt Petunia swinging her frying pan at him; 'Harry Hunting' by Dudley; being back-handed and starved, tripped and shoved; the constant name-calling; him losing his temper with Aunt Marge, yelling at them in the car just moments ago about being slave labor….

Finally it stopped. Voldemort then turned towards the Dursleys and cast the spell on them. Then he slowly smiled. "Yes. This could be interesting." He looked to his side. "Lucius, a change of plans. Aurors will be arriving soon and I don't quite trust Mr. Potter enough yet to give him a wand." He shot a pile of rope out of his wand and muttered "Portus". The rope trembled with a blue glow and then turned back to normal. "Take him and the muggles and wait for me. I want to set up a surprise for the aurors. A special gift beneath the Dark Mark." Voldemort laughed a cold laugh. He approached Harry, placing a finger under his chin and forcing his head up. Putting aside the blinding pain he heard a low voice that said, "We really are very similar Mr. Potter. Brother wands, powerful, Parselmouths, and both hate the muggles in our past. You will soon find that it is very satisfying taking revenge on them. You could have great potential."

Harry had the feeling that Voldemort thought Harry would think he would be recruited after he killed the Dursleys, but Harry knew that with the Prophesy, Voldemort would never let him survive. He was just letting Harry live right now for entertainment purposes only. He was confident that Harry wouldn't be able to escape. Harry hoped he could prove him wrong again.

As Voldemort backed away he held his wand on Harry. With a flick, the rope flew towards the Dursleys and encircled them. "Just for transportation purposes. I'm sure you'll understand." He nodded to Malfoy who yanked hard on the Dursleys ropes to force them closer to Harry and the open end of the rope tied itself around Harry's wrists. Voldemort nodded to two other Death Eaters who grabbed hold of the rope along with Malfoy and they were off.

* * *

The sensation of howling wind and swirling color ended with a jolt in a dark stone room. Harry looked around. It looked like some sort of dungeon. He quickly took in what he could of his surroundings.

The Dursleys were screaming and pleading incoherently. The Death Eaters backed away from the bound group with their wands trained on them. Harry needed some way to get further away from the Dursleys and get the attention taken off from him for a bit.

"Mr. Malfoy." One Death Eater looked up when Harry called his name. "Can I make a request?"

"Request all you want, Mr. Potter. Not that I'm in the mood to grant you anything." The silken voice of Lucius Malfoy came through behind his mask. His gray eyes cold.

"I have no problem being bound while we wait, but could you let me have some distance from them?" Harry jerked his head with a distasteful look on his face towards the Dursleys. "The smell is getting a little intense."

Lucius Malfoy lifted his mask off his face and sneered towards the Dursleys. He took in the dark wet stain down the front of Uncle Vernon's trousers. He gave a satisfied laugh. "Weak fools. I will grant you your request Mr. Potter."

Harry inclined his head while Lucius Malfoy sent a cutting hex towards the rope. The rope stayed tightly binding the two groups, but was now separated and Harry could move further away from them towards the shadows in the corner of the room. He slowly sat down with his bound hands resting calmly in front of him; making no sudden movements whatsoever. He hoped to lull them into a false sense of security.

He called over to Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. "So do you recognize our host? Mr. Malison, isn't it?"

Petunia squinted over to Mr. Malfoy and gasped. "Mr. Malison! You're one of _them_? What happened to your hair!"

Harry silently rolled his eyes. Figures that what most impressed his aunt about this situation was that Malfoy's hair was longer than what she considered proper. "His name is not Mr. Malison, but Mr. Lucius Malfoy. He's a Death Eater."

Lucius Malfoy sneered at her. "You muggles are so gullible. The Dark Lord was correct as always. He said you would take Potter out of the safety of his school if it was suggested…subtly, of course…that work would need to be done." He glared over at Harry.

"What are you so upset at me about?" Lucius did seem extraordinarily angry at Harry.

"The Dark Lord had promised them to me! I spent a week with that obnoxious muggle woman listening to her brainless prattle about her dogs while plying her with muggle brandy. I was even forbidden to use magic against her at all in case it should be recognized by investigators."

Harry let the conversation flow around him. Vernon Dursley was objecting to the murder of his sister, Malfoy returned that she had been so common, murder hadn't even been necessary. Her gullibility let her think one of her precious dogs needed attention while she was deep in her cups. It had been the second attempt. Somehow she had drunkenly arrived safely the first time he'd convinced her to drive. That was when the Dark Lord had promised the torture of her brother since he was not allowed to take out his frustrations on her.

Silently Harry transformed into Shadow. The ropes fell off his arms as they changed shape. He focused on not being seen and blended into the shadows. He made his way to the nearest Death Eater watching the conversation between Malfoy and the Dursleys. He quickly nipped at the Death Eaters thigh and felt a small amount of venom discharge. The Death Eater gasped in surprise and slapped a hand to his thigh but Harry was already on his way to the second one. He dimly heard the first Death Eater lean against the wall as he bit the next Death Eater. He turned his attention to Malfoy. The first Death Eater fell to the floor and Malfoy turned in surprise. The sounds of the second Death Eater starting to stumble and fall came next and Malfoy turned and saw as Shadow stepped into the light. His eyes widened in fear as Harry leapt and swiped at his face with his claws, knocking Malfoy down. Once he was down, Harry quickly nipped at Malfoy, too, and stayed focused on him until he stopped moving.

Harry turned his attention to the Dursleys. Petunia was screaming hysterically. Dudley followed his fathers example and let loose his bodily functions. Vernon's eyes rolled back and he dragged his family down as he fainted. He landed on top of his wife and son and Harry winced as he heard the crack of their heads hitting the floor. All was silent.

Harry turned back into himself and reached down to search Malfoy's robes for his wand. He briefly thought about trying to capture these three Death Eaters somehow but knew he didn't have time. He didn't know how long until Voldemort arrived. He transformed into Flame and perched on top of the bound Dursley pile. Popping noises started around the room as Death Eaters and Voldemort apparated in. Within a fraction of a second, Harry flashed himself and the Dursleys away, before any of them could realize what had happened.

* * *

Harry appeared in his entrance hall. He hopped off the Dursleys and transformed back to himself. Tubow appeared nearby. Harry pointed his wand at the Dursleys and made the ropes fall off. Before Tubow even had a chance to greet Harry, Harry started issuing orders.

"Tubow, I need Tiz to see to my relatives. I don't know if they're just knocked out or if Vernon landing on them caused more damage." Harry was walking towards a writing desk against the wall. He took out a quill and was quickly scratching out a note while still talking to Tubow. "Winky?" She popped by his side. "You know Hogwarts. I need this letter to get to the Headmaster right away. If he's not there, find Dobby. He knows the way to Privet Drive. He may be there. Just do your best."

Tubow snapped his fingers and Tiz appeared. Tiz quickly snapped her fingers and Saavik and Fossa also appeared. They seemed to be able to communicate silently and quickly because Saavik and Fossa snapped their fingers and Harry's aunt and uncle started floating up the stairs with Tiz floating Dudley behind them.

Harry finished his note and handed it to Winky. "Please hurry." Winky nodded and popped away.

Harry took a deep breath and collapsed into a chair. It was only a few moments later when a flash of fire appeared and Dumbledore was standing there holding Fawkes tail feathers. Harry looked over to his Headmaster and said, "I hate portkeys."

Dumbledore gave a relieved smile and said, "Well, that answers my first question. It is definitely you, Harry." He took his wand out and sent a silvery ghostly bird towards the wall. He seemed to take a deep breath. "Can you tell me what happened?"

At that moment a scream came from upstairs. Aunt Petunia must have woken up. Harry shook his head towards his Professor and headed for the stairs. He followed the screams to a guest bedroom. Aunt Petunia was leaning over Dudley's bed brandishing a candlestick she had grabbed, threatening to bash any house elf that got too close.

"Aunt Petunia! Calm down. They're here to help," Harry shouted.

She turned and saw him in the doorway and screeched again. Dudley and Vernon were coming around as well; pulled by the delicate sounds of Aunt Petunia's screams. They both looked around at the unfamiliar house elves, Harry and Professor Dumbledore and jumped; inching as far back as they could, pointing accusing, shaking fingers at Harry.

"Y…you said you were going to k…kill us! Where are we!"

Harry had had enough of his relatives. "You are currently guests in my home. Of course I wasn't going to kill you. I was trying to buy us some time!" Harry looked at his frightened house elves. "You may go now. They're obviously going to survive. I apologize for what they put you through. Thank you."

The house elves nodded and quickly left.

Aunt Petunia's eyes were larger than normal which was saying something. "What were those things? What do you mean your home? What was that _thing_ we saw?"

Harry made to move into the room and the Dursleys flinched back as one. Harry shook his head in disgust and sat in a chair near the door. Albus Dumbledore conjured another chair and calmly sat himself. Harry threw an apologetic look towards his Headmaster for taking the only seat. Dumbledore only gave a slight shrug to show he didn't mind. Harry's aunt and uncle obviously _did_ mind as they both started yelling at the same time. "How dare you do that unnaturalness in front of us! We are decent people."

Harry had a headache and made an abrupt gesture with his hand towards his relatives. Suddenly their mouths were moving but no sound was coming out. He watched them until they realized they weren't getting anywhere and turned to face Harry with mutinous looks on their faces. Dudley hadn't been silenced since he hadn't been shouting, but he just looked from his mother to his father and whimpered.

"Harry," Dumbledore said to Harry reproachfully.

"Look, I've had a hard day. I have quite the headache between scar pains and Voldemort trying to dig through my brain. I don't need their noise on top of it all."

Harry then started explaining what had happened to Dumbledore and the Dursleys. He told how Lucius Malfoy had aided in Marge's accident and then convinced the Dursleys to bring Harry out of school to work for them. He spoke of the return to Privet Drive and how Voldemort was able to enter the house. Dumbledore's eyes grew thoughtful as he heard of the rituals to multiply Harry's blood. Harry then told how he had come up with the idea of using hatred of family to buy him and the Dursley's a little time, hopefully enough to get away. He briefly mentioned that during Lucius Malfoy's distraction with the Dursleys he had been able to quietly overpower the two other Death Eaters, implying that he'd stunned them. He decided to mention that while he had his back turned and was taking care of the other Death Eaters, some animal seemed to attack Malfoy. He didn't make eye contact with his Headmaster during this part. Dudley made another pathetic whimper and Dumbledore turned towards him.

"Did you see this animal, Mr. Dursley?" Dudley rapidly nodded his head up and down, making his multiple chins wobble. "Could you describe it to me?"

"It…it was h-horrible. It was bl-black and looked kind of like a wolf, but had these huge white fangs. Its body was like a skeleton. I could see every rib. It didn't have normal fur. It clawed Mr. Malison and then leaned over him like it was going to eat him. Then it looked at us. I don't remember anything after that. Just falling."

"Mr. Malison?" Dumbledore had a confused look on his face.

"Lucius Malfoy," Harry clarified.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "I can't recall any type of animal that fits that description. Do you have anything else to add, Mr. Dursley?" Dudley shook his head no as fast as he had nodded earlier which set his chins wobbling in a whole new direction.

"What of you Mr. and Mrs. Dursley?" They also shook their heads no. "So after that you managed to get them out? A phoenix, perhaps?"

Harry nodded. "Just as Death Eaters started apparating in, we left. I don't think they got much of a look at us leaving."

"I guess that gives me enough to start with. I need to report to the others that you are indeed safe and return to the school. Harry, could I have a word?" Harry nodded and he and Dumbledore left the room.

"Harry, I need to find out what has occurred at Privet Drive. I shall return shortly and we can discuss our options." Harry nodded, but he didn't like the sound of that. What did he mean 'options'?

Dumbledore called to Fawkes and disappeared in a flash of fire.

Harry leaned tiredly against a wall and blew out a breath. Once again, Professor Dumbledore let Harry's escape go by without too much question on precisely how. Harry hadn't even had to come up with an excuse this time. Harry strongly suspected Dumbledore knew about his phoenix form, but he would bet he knew nothing of Shadow.

Harry went to his room to clean up. He changed out of the ill-fitting clothes he'd been given and put on a tasteful, comfortable outfit with a wizard's robe over the top. It was obviously made of fine quality fabric. He headed back up the hallway towards the stairs to have some tea while he waited for Dumbledore to return.

"Harry?" A timid voice questioned him from up the hall. Harry looked over and saw Dudley peeking out from the room his relatives were in.

"What, Dud?"

"Could you do something about my mum and dad?" Harry had forgotten they were still silenced. Seemed a pity to remove it, but thought if he didn't have to be near them it would be okay.

"Sure," he casually waved a hand towards the room and removed the silencing charm. In an instant frantic whispers could be heard, "Duddy, come back here! Who knows what's lurking out there!" Harry shook his head and turned to walk away.

"Hey, Harry? Is this really your house?" Dudley was looking around in amazement at what he could see in the hall.

"One of them," Harry replied.

Dudley's eyes widened. He came out into the hall a little ways. "You have more than one? You have money or something?"

"Obviously, yes. I have money or something."

"How come you never told us?" Harry looked at him with a gaze that clearly stated how stupid that question was.

"You're going to give your mother a heart attack if you don't go back into the room."

Dudley got an annoyed look on his face and looked back into the room. "Shut it, already. I'm fine!" Harry inwardly winced at the rudeness he gave his parents, but it had been taught by them so it wasn't so surprising after all. Dudley turned back to Harry. "Can I look around? I'm bored in there. Hungry, too."

Harry sighed and nodded. He didn't really want Dudley around, but he supposed he should offer them something to eat. Maybe it would keep them occupied for a while. "I'll give you a warning. This is a wizard's house. Things aren't quite the same as they are at Privet Drive."

Dudley looked a little apprehensive, but nodded. He came into the hallway and followed Harry to the breakfast area. As Harry entered, the table filled with tea supplies. There were tarts, biscuits, scones and fruit with tea and pumpkin juice to drink. Dudley couldn't take his eyes off of the table. "How did that happen?"

Harry was putting a bit of everything on a trolley to wheel over to his relative's room. "The house elves sent it up."

"House elves?"

"You remember the little creatures when you woke up?" Dudley nodded. "They take care of me."

"They do that stuff you do, too?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "They have their own type of magic."

Dudley looked uncomfortable. "Ah…speaking of that, how did you do that to my mum and dad without using your stick?"

"I've learned how without 'the stick'. That way the Ministry can't track it and I can do as much as I want."

Dudley began to look afraid. "You mean you can do it anytime you want?"

Harry nodded. "Anytime I want." Harry could imagine Dudley's thoughts of how he had pushed him earlier. "Why don't you bring this to your mum and dad?" Harry indicated the tea trolley.

Instinctively Dudley started to rebel about doing any kind of work, but soon settled when he saw Harry's raised eyebrow. He gave a weak smile and started to push it up the hall.

Harry sat down and started to butter a scone. Tubow appeared near his elbow. "Harry Potter, sir. Professor Dumbledore has arrived and is waiting downstairs."

"Can you show him up, please?" Tubow nodded and left. Moments later Tubow led Harry's Headmaster to the table. "Thank you, Tubow. Have a seat, Professor. Would you like something to eat?"

The Headmaster helped himself to a raspberry tart. "Thank you, Harry."

Harry waited for a moment then asked, "So what's going on?"

Professor Dumbledore looked serious. "First, I want to thank you for getting word to me so quickly that you and the Dursley's were safe. It was only known that something was wrong when the Dark Mark went up over Privet Drive. The house was still standing at that time. The Order and I appeared shortly after along with several aurors. Your guard was found unconscious near the street. We believe he was left alive so he could give testimony that Voldemort himself was the one who did this. We were about to enter when Winky and Dobby arrived with your note. Just moments later the house exploded. We assume there was some sort of delay to hopefully trap us inside when it went."

"Was anybody hurt?" Harry was afraid to ask.

"Fortunately only superficial wounds. I don't believe anyone even needed to go to St. Mungo's."

"So what happens now?"

"The Dursleys have lost their home. From what you've told me, they have recently inherited another. They could temporarily move there while the home on Privet Drive is rebuilt. Unfortunately, Voldemort knows where that home is as well. The Ministry has agreed to put up standard wards to warn of any type of dark magic, but they will take a few days to put into place."

"Won't Voldemort just go after them again?"

"I don't believe so. The wards are a precaution in case I am mistaken, but I believe that Voldemort knows you have no great love for your relatives. He most likely believes they were taken with you only because they were there at the same time you were and it was no hardship for a bird like Fawkes to do so. I do not believe he thinks you would come after them if they were in distress."

"Lucius Malfoy would. He was angry he wasn't going to be allowed to torture or kill them. I think he would go after them in a minute."

Dumbledore sat back in thought for a moment. "You do have a valid point. Perhaps we can set a trap for Mr. Malfoy. It would mean that they could not move into the house as soon as we might wish. Would you have a problem with them staying here?"

Harry had been afraid that was coming. He didn't want his relatives in his home, but knew it was the safest place for them at this time. "They won't want to stay," Harry warned.

"Shall we see?" Harry and the Headmaster went to the Dursley's room. Harry knocked on the door. Dudley opened it and let them in.

Dumbledore re-conjured a chair and he and Harry sat. Professor Dumbledore explained what happened to Privet Drive and what the Ministry offered to do while it was to be re-built.

It had finally sunk in that their home was gone and Marge's death had something to do with Harry. Vernon was livid with rage. Petunia wasn't much better.

"I thought we were protected! How could this happen? You promised us that if we kept him under our roof, we couldn't be touched!"

Dumbledore's gaze was solemn as he answered Petunia. "I could not know he would placed such a high priority on killing Harry there that he would further transform himself to break the charm."

Harry had a sudden thought. "Professor? Wasn't he making himself more vulnerable by doing that? I mean, he had always before tried to become less human, but it sounds like he was actually reversing it to some degree with this."

Dumbledore looked over with a small twinkle in his eye. "I believe you are correct, Harry. That is why I was so sure he would never do this. Fortunately for us, his obsession over you has overtaken his original goal of immortality. For now at least."

"FORTUNATE! What in blazes could possibly fortunate in all of this?" Uncle Vernon's face was purple and spit was beginning to fly from his mouth.

"We are fortunate that we now have a better chance of defeating him once and for all with this step he took and all this can end eventually," was Dumbledore's calm reply. "To return to the subject, would you be willing to stay here until your new residence can be adequately warded?"

"What good would it do? Lord Voldie-whatsits knows where that is, too."

"He is focused on Harry. Since Harry need never to return to your _care_," Harry gave light snort. "Lord Voldemort shouldn't feel the need to bother you more than any other muggle. He has some clue of Harry's feelings towards you and I believe he would consider it more of a favor to Harry if something should happen to you. The last thing he wants to do is any favors for Harry Potter." Harry noticed that Dumbledore didn't mention Malfoy. He assumed Dumbledore was hoping that situation would be taken care of before they had to know.

"How long?"

"I would hope you could move on Sunday. You just need to get through this long weekend." Harry had the feeling that long didn't near describe how it would feel. For all of them. "The alternative, of course, it to take your own chances, totally unprotected, in the muggle world."

Vernon looked at Petunia. She gazed back and softly said, "For Dudley?"

"All right."


	18. Dealing with Dursleys

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

2nd Disclaimer – Our imagination ran dry on house elf/goblin names. We've started borrowing names from a book we have by Vonda N McIntyre which is based on a screenplay by Harve Bennett. The movie was Star Trek III. I couldn't help the association of the ears with some Vulcans vs. house elves.

Chapter 18 Dealing with Dursleys

Unfortunately for Harry, Thursday turned out to be a longer day than expected. Harry had gone to the office on the second floor to get a quill and parchment to write a note to Ginny to let her know what was going on, then asked Winky to get his trunk from Hogwarts. Harry was hoping Ginny would sneak away for a visit to him.

When he was notified that dinner was ready, Harry reluctantly went to bring his relatives down. Dudley walked confidently, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seemed quite nervous of what they would find. Harry had to admit he was quite amused by the reactions some of the pictures caused. Harry had some landscapes in the hallways. Every so often a herd of horses or other type of animal would be wandering around or eating in them. Dudley assumed they were similar to a television, but Aunt Petunia was very freaked out. Vernon just turned a deeper shade of red. When they reached the stairs to go to the second floor and they could see out the huge picture windows to the scene outside, they all caught their breath. Harry smirked a little to himself. You couldn't help but be impressed by his view.

In the dining room, Harry took his place at the head of the table. He was going to make sure the Dursley's were well aware that this was his house and he was the one in charge here. Taking his place at the head of the table was a nice, non-verbal emphasis of that statement. Vernon and Petunia took the seats to his right and Dudley to his left. When food suddenly materialized in the bowls and on platters, his aunt and uncle gave shrieks. Dudley grinned and started in. Aunt Petunia started to reach across to stop Dudley.

"You don't know what that is, Diddy." She turned to Harry. "Don't you have any _normal_ food here that _we_ can eat?"

"The food _is_ normal food. It's just…transported…here differently. It is all exactly the same as you would get at the grocers."

Dudley looked confused. "How does that work?"

"The house elves prepare the food. They have a table that matches this one in the kitchen. They set it all up and somehow 'send it up' so to speak. Kind of like a dumb waiter right to the table."

"Cool." Dudley turned his attention back to his ham and potatoes. Harry saw his Aunt Petunia shudder.

Silence reigned until Dudley started to finally slow on his third helpings. He seemed to like to watch as he emptied a bowl of something and it would fill itself back up. Aunt Petunia tried not to watch. "So, Harry, you said this was one of your houses. What's your other house like?"

"The other's a townhouse in London. I share ownership in that one with Remus Lupin, one of my father's friends."

Aunt Petunia perked up. "In London? Why don't we stay there? We could go out during the day."

"You could. But the house is being used for something and witches and wizards come and go at odd times during the day and night. I think you'd be more comfortable here. I will ask Professor Dumbledore about shopping in London tomorrow, though. I guess I hadn't thought of it, but you will need clothes and such."

Vernon finally spoke. Anger vibrated through his voice. "Too right, we will. And you'll bloody well pay for them, too! If you've got the pounds to have a place like this, you can be paying us back for some of what we've spent on you over the years!"

Harry began to get angry. "Spent on me? If you had treated me at all like _family_ should, I would be more than pleased to share anything I had. But you're not family. You're just relatives."

Vernon's face started turning purple. "We've kept you for almost all your life! Our house was destroyed because of you! My sister was murdered because of you!"

Harry's face grew still, but his eyes blazed. "First, you 'kept' me? You _kept_ me in a cupboard for ten years. You _kept_ me in Dudley's old, worn-out clothes. You _kept_ me doing your chores. You _sometimes_ fed me, and never enough. I more than worked off any debt for your _keeping_ me! Second, I will admit that Voldemort destroyed your house because of me, but you have insurance. I imagine you only have the basic insurance so I will pick up the difference between your insurance and the cost to get your house _as it was before_." He smiled a little sarcastically. "The only difference will be that Dudley's second bedroom won't need a lock or cat flap for cold tins or stale food to be pushed through. I'll contact a goblin at my bank to work with yours for transferring any money." Harry laughed to himself at the way their mouths all worked at the word 'goblin'. Then he got serious again and continued, "Third, I take no responsibility for Aunt Marge's death. She was not forced to drive when she was drunk. That was made very clear by her losing her license a few years back. That was something she was accustomed to doing, unfortunately for those others who died because of it."

Uncle Vernon looked surprised Harry knew that, but he did not dispute it. Silence fell at the table again until the dessert appeared. Treacle Tart. Harry smiled. He really liked his house elves. They all had different personalities and he enjoyed getting to know them. He knew that most of them looked to him as their 'last chance' and felt gratitude for providing a place for them to live and work. Their gratitude let them overlook his 'strange ideas'. Harry didn't care if they thought him a bit strange. He'd been different for all his life. He had begun to accept that he always would be. He thought some of the house elves might feel a bit more than just gratitude, though. Winky, Gilly and Kreelo especially. They didn't act nervous around him anymore.

As they were leaving the table, Harry told his aunt, "I'll write that letter now to ask about tomorrow. You may want to make a list of what you need to get right away to tide you over until you can go shopping properly. I'll find some regular paper and a pen for you to use."

They returned up the stairs. Vernon and Petunia seemed uncomfortable with Harry's house and they dragged Dudley with them. Harry went to his room to rummage through his trunk to look for muggle paper and a pen. When he found it, he closed his trunk lid and turned around to find Dudley in his doorway.

"Hey, Harry, do you have a telly here?"

"I'm afraid not, Dudley. At least I haven't seen one yet. Maybe that's something you could buy tomorrow. There are a few books in the library you could read."

"Nah. I'm not much of a read…" Dudley's eyes widened and focused on something behind Harry. Harry turned and saw the trunk lid open and Ginny climb out.

"Harry!"

Harry walked over to her and gave her a hug. "Ginny! Great to see you. I was hoping you'd come by."

Dudley was pointing at Ginny. "She j-just came out of your trunk."

"Stop pointing, Dudders. It's not polite. Ginny, meet Dudley, my cousin. Dudley, this is Ginny Weasley, my girlfriend." Harry smiled and looked at Ginny. He saw she was smiling, too, at his introduction.

"But…but…you keep her in your trunk?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Of course, he doesn't. I have a matching one and we can use them to travel back and forth to each other no matter where we are."

Dudley's eyes started to leer at Ginny. "Handy that. So you travel to each others bedroom much?"

Harry's eyes snapped together and he frowned at Dudley. "Be careful what you say, Dudley. You'd better be respectful when you speak about Ginny." His tone made the leer in Dudley's eyes disappear instantly.

Ginny took his arm. "Calm down, Harry. I'm sure he'll know to speak better from now on. If not, I can defend myself, you know." She was lightly fingering her wand. Dudley's eyes now looked like a mouse transfixed by a cobra, staring at her wand. "Are all your relatives as pleasant as him?"

"About the same. I've got to bring some writing paper to my Aunt Petunia. I'll be right back. _Coming Big D_?" The last question was as much a command as a question. His tone clearly said he was expected to go back to his parents' room.

Harry started to lead the way back to the room his aunt and uncle were using when he suddenly heard a muffled sound, like a hit, then a painful whimper. He started to run. When he opened the door to his aunt and uncle's room, he couldn't believe what he saw. His uncle was standing over Fossa with his leg drawn back to deliver a kick to the fallen house elf. Harry boiled over.

"Petrificus Totalus!" His uncle's arms and legs snapped together and he fell backwards. Aunt Petunia, who'd been standing behind him screamed and leapt to the side, letting him fall with a thud to the floor.

Harry ran over to Fossa. He was holding the side of his face, softly whimpering. "Tiz?" Tiz popped into the room and Aunt Petunia screamed again. "Fossa's been hurt. Can you help him?"

"Of course, Harry Potter, sir." She took hold of Fossa's hand and they popped away.

Harry turned with a growl to Aunt Petunia. "What happened?"

"That…that little…_thing_ appeared in our room. It was by our bed and Vernon said he'd get it out!"

Harry looked to the bed. There were a couple of items of nightwear lying on it. "He was bringing you night clothes to wear tonight! You have no right to harm anything or anyone in MY house!"

Harry cast a bending spell on Vernon so he was now sitting up. "Listen up, Uncle Vernon and listen good. I will not put up with your behavior as long as you are in MY house." Harry turned away and called, "Tubow?" When the head elf appeared, he said, "Call all of the house elves that can, to come here right now." Tubow closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. Suddenly there were eleven house elves standing in front of him. All except Gilly and the new elf Grenni were there. "Winky?" When she appeared, Harry continued, "I want you to hear this, too. This is an order. Do not allow anyone to harm you if you can help it. I've seen Dobby use his magic to throw his previous master, Lucius Malfoy, down a flight of steps before so I know you can do it. You don't have to throw them somewhere, you can freeze so you can get away, but do something in your own defense. I do not want anyone to harm any of you. Understand?"

The elves nodded their heads with wide eyes. "I also do not want any of you to enter this room any longer while the Dursleys are staying here. Do not bring them food or anything to wear. If they need something, Dudley can get it for them." Again nods of the heads at his command. "That's all. Thank you." The house elves popped away.

Now Harry turned his furious glare on his aunt and uncle. He started casting some illusion spells around the room. The door to the loo vanished, bars appeared across the window, the door grew a heavy lock and a small cat flap appeared in it. Harry's voice was low and dangerous when he spoke. "Do you know how easy it would be? Force you to live like you forced me? Lord Voldemort grew up in a childhood similar to mine. When he was able to freely use his magic, he went and killed his living relatives. When he was looking at you, you were probably seeing memories of how you've treated me in the past, weren't you? That's why he believed I would willingly kill you. He saw how you've treated me." He could see fear in his relative's eyes.

Ginny came up behind him and touched his arm. "Harry?" Her voice calmed him down a little.

"Lucky for you, I'm _not_ like him. I choose to make different choices." He waved his hand and cancelled the illusions, but did some other spell on the door. "But, Uncle Vernon, you will not leave this room unless I give you permission. Aunt Petunia and Dudley, you may, but you will not harass my house elves. They now will defend themselves. And you remember that Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy? Even he was afraid of what a house elf could do to him when it was no longer under his control, so I would advise to you to treat them very carefully and with respect."

Harry removed the body bind from his uncle and turned away to leave the room with Ginny. His uncle's voice floated to him, full of bravado. "So who's the trollop with you? No common decency."

Harry turned ready to throw a hex at his uncle when Ginny's hand caught his to pull it back down to his side. She growled up at him, "Allow me."

She threw her hand forward and the bat-bogey hex hit his uncle. His nose started running and huge flapping wings grew from it and started beating him about the face. He started yelling and hitting his own face trying to swat them away.

Harry started to laugh. Aunt Petunia was screaming and Dudley was looking at Ginny like she was some sort of poisonous snake that he had narrowly escaped when it decided to strike the person next to him rather than him.

Ginny smiled with satisfaction up at Harry. "I've been wanting to try that wandlessly to see if it would work. It does. Not quite as well as with a wand, but good enough for me.

Harry was still laughing, but calmed enough to say, "Much as I hate to say it, you probably should stop it." Ginny performed the counter curse and Harry stepped back over towards his relatives who now were cowering away from them. "Stop with the insults. Ginny Weasley is someone I care very much about. You only have to stay here a few days, then you'll never have to see me again. I'll try to stay out of your way as much as possible, but don't you get in my way either. There will be no physical abuse and no insults in my house. You are now walking in my world. I'd advise you to tread very carefully." Harry turned and walked out of the room with his arm around Ginny's shoulders.

Harry guided her to the office on the second floor. A fire flared up in the hearth when they walked in. Harry and Ginny sat on a leather couch in front of it. Harry was beginning to feel bad about losing his temper with his relatives. Ginny was holding onto his arm, idly tracing designs with the tip of her finger on it. "You know, you have quite a protective streak in you. You can be quite scary sometimes when it matters to you. Like making sure your house elves will be treated right. But you're also very strong."

Harry snorted. "Strong? Just because I can intimidate my relatives now by using my magic?"

"No. Strong, not powerful. You're a powerful wizard too, but you're a strong person." Harry gave her a confused look. Ginny tried to explain. "It's like what you said. It would be so easy to treat them like they treated you. It would be easy to go back later, like Tom did, and kill your relatives, just because you've become powerful. It's not easy to just turn your back on it and let it all go. That takes strength. That's why you're strong."

"I don't feel strong. I feel like I just lost my temper and embarrassed myself."

"Well…" She grinned impishly up at him. "You did lose your temper. But I'm not sure there is any other way you could get through to those dunderheads." She moved the arm she had been drawing on and placed it around her shoulders. She snuggled into his side. "You know what else I liked?" He looked at her inquiringly. "You let me defend myself. You let me stop you defending me and handle it myself. I know this wasn't some massive confrontation with Death Eaters, but I know some guys would try to smother me even with the small things. It means something to me that you didn't. I know you were willing to if I'd wanted you to, but you were willing to step aside for me to do it myself."

Harry gave her an amused grin. "I guess they know now not to mess with either of us." He gave a sigh and got up and walked to the desk.

"What are you doing?"

"I'd promised Aunt Petunia that I'd write a note to Professor Dumbledore about them shopping in London tomorrow."

Ginny grinned at him. "See? A strong person. You let your word stand above what just happened."

"I reckon they'd see it as a weakness."

"Well, I don't."

After Harry wrote his letter and sent it off, he wrote a second one to Griphook outlining what happened and asking to meet the next day if possible. After that, Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the evening just relaxing and enjoying the fire.

After Ginny left for the night, Harry got out his mirror and talked to Remus. He didn't want Remus to worry if he heard about the attack from someone else.

* * *

Professor Dumbledore did approve a shopping day provided two members of the Order went along. Harry was calmly sitting in the breakfast area when Fawkes delivered the message. Dudley had just joined him for an early breakfast. He jumped about a mile when the flash of fire appeared.

"Good morning, Fawkes. I hope you are doing well today?"

Fawkes piped his affirmative. Dudley just watched in shock. Harry removed the attached scroll and offered Fawkes some melon slices. Scanning through the letter, he quilled his agreement with the proposed arrangements and re-attached it to Fawkes leg. A moment later the fiery bird was gone.

"Wh-what was that?" Dudley had momentarily stopped eating to just stare in surprise and what he'd seen.

"That was my Headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes. He approved of the shopping trip as long as we take along some protectors."

At that time a loud yell of pain came up the hallway. Harry's smile turned a little sadistic. Uncle Vernon must have tried to leave the room and got shocked for his efforts.

Harry calmly got up and walked up the hallway to his aunt and uncle's room. Dudley followed with curiosity. Aunt Petunia was fussing over Vernon. He was trying to shake her off. When he saw Harry standing outside their door, he got up and went to throttle him. Once he reached the door he again yelled in pain and retreated to the bed once again.

"What have you done, you freak? I can't leave this bloody room! How am I supposed to eat? What? You're going to starve me to death?" Uncle Vernon was glaring at Harry.

Harry calmly looked back at him. "I told you last night, Uncle Vernon, you aren't allowed to leave this room without my permission. Aunt Petunia and Dudley can bring food back for you. There's a table just up the hall that will always have some type of food on it and a tea trolley to make it easy to bring back and forth. I don't trust you to roam free in my house. There's a library if Dudley or Aunt Petunia want to bring you books to read. Also, Professor Dumbledore has made arrangements for all of us to go to London in one hour. You may want to keep in mind that you will have the rest of today and tomorrow to entertain yourself in this room. Hopefully, Sunday you will be able to go to Aunt Marge's house and we can say goodbye."

Harry started to turn, then stopped to add one more thing. "In one hour, some of my house elves will be transporting us to London. You had better be good to them or else I can make your stay here a whole lot more unpleasant!"

Harry finished his threat and turned to go back to his breakfast. He took out the Daily Prophet and started to read. After about ten minutes Aunt Petunia came out and loaded two plates with food from the table and wheeled it on the tea trolley back to their room. She never looked or said anything to Harry and he had been glad to return the favor.

After the hour had passed, Harry returned to their room. He gave his uncle permission to leave it and led the three to the main entrance. Tubow met him there with four house elves that would be transporting them to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry took a careful look at Fossa's face. There was a slight bruise still there. Harry felt another flash of anger at his uncle. He stood by Fossa. Grissom was lined up to take his uncle. "Be on your guard, Grissom. Remember, you have permission to stop any abuse however you wish to."

Grissom grinned a rather frightening grin. At least Uncle Vernon seemed to be frightened of it. Harry was glad.

He lifted up the hood on his cloak to somewhat conceal his features right before they were to leave.

"Why're you doing that, Harry?" Dudley asked.

"I'm rather well known in the Wizarding world and it would be better if I weren't recognized."

Dudley snorted. "You say you're well-known? You think everyone knows you or something? Don't think much of yourself, do you?"

Harry looked at him scornfully. "It really has nothing much to do with me, it's just a fact. Yes, everyone in the Wizarding world knows who I am."

The house elves all put their hands on a member of the shopping party's arms and popped them away.

* * *

Mad-Eye Moody limped up to them in the parlor room that had been reserved for them that they had appeared in. Uncle Vernon squeaked as he recognized him. "The other escort is watchin' the bar. Why don't we get a move on? A stop at Gringotts first I reckon?"

Harry nodded and his house elves popped away. They would return when Harry called them at the end of their shopping expedition. Harry pulled his cloak hood up further around his face and exited the room. Moody followed behind him, followed by the Dursley's.

When Harry reached the bar entrance, he paused and looked around. He found Remus standing in a corner keeping watch over the room. Harry got a big grin on his face and hurried over to him. "Remus! What are you doing here? I thought you were out of the country?"

Remus smiled, but didn't say his name. "After what's happened, I decided I wanted to be here for a while."

Harry suddenly heard Dudley's voice float across the room. "Isn't that '_Harry Potter_'?"

Harry whirled around. Dudley was smirking. He thought he could show Harry's lie about being known for what it was. There was a sudden stillness in the room, then mutters of "Harry Potter!" started to make its way across in muttered excitement. Dudley's smirk started to falter. Harry heard Moody mutter a muffled curse and Remus gave a jerk of his head to indicate for Moody to get the Dursley's out of there. Moody started to hustle them towards the door.

Meanwhile there apparently had been a photographer and reporter among the patrons of the bar. A flashbulb burst in Harry's eyes and he was being asked questions. "Mr. Potter, can you tell us what you're doing in Diagon Alley? What comments do you have about the government recalling Madam Umbridge's Decrees? You haven't been seen in public since the last Press Conference. What have you been up to?"

Harry shook his head. It seemed rather obvious. He'd been at school. What did they expect? Remus started to clear a path to the door and guide Harry out. "Mr. Potter has no comments at this time." Harry was grateful Remus was there. They managed to get into the Alley and practically ran to Gringotts.

The reporters stopped their pursuit at the majestic bank's doors. This was goblin territory and they were not allowed to pursue their quarry inside. Harry looked across the vast marble hall and saw Mad-Eye was guarding the Dursleys in a far corner. He looked angry and they looked intimidated. Harry walked up to the nearest goblin.

"I'd like to see Griphook if he's available."

The goblin sneered down over his counter. "And whom may I say is requesting an audience?"

Harry tilted his hood back a little and said in a low voice, "Harry Potter."

The goblins eyes showed recognition. "One moment please, Mr. Potter." The goblin got down off of his high stool and made his way over to one who seemed to be supervising the tellers. He leaned over to speak with him and they both looked back at Harry. The supervisor nodded and left the room. He returned shortly and made his way over to the counter where Harry was.

The goblin smiled with his pointed teeth. Harry personally thought their smiles tended to seem rather more predatory than pleasant. "Mr. Potter, Griphook is free to meet with you. If you would follow me."

Harry paused for a moment. "I have more in my party. Is it all right if they come as well?"

The goblin narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Of course, Mr. Potter."

Harry motioned for Mad-Eye and the Dursleys to come as well. From the expressions on the Dursleys faces, Harry would bet that they were debating if shopping was worth being in this…this…He could just hear them not being able to even describe it.

Mad-Eye decided he would keep watch in the hall. Harry, Remus and the Dursleys followed the swarthy faced supervisor into one of the many doors that led off the hall. This door led to offices.

There were many doors leading off the sides of the hall and many more hallways that branched off in different directions. Harry noticed that none of the doors seemed to have any names on them.

After getting totally lost by taking turn after turn, they were escorted inside a conference room. They seated themselves at a large oblong table. "Griphook will be with you in just a moment." The goblin gave a brief nod and left the room.

Harry was still angry with Dudley. "So tell me, Dud, what was that all about, huh? What part of 'it would be better if I weren't recognized' didn't you understand?" Harry's eyes flashed with his anger. "You realize we might just have to call off your shopping trip? They'll be waiting out there for me now. If it should spread across the wireless, Death Eaters could be waiting, too."

Dudley was nothing if not stubborn in his belief he didn't do anything wrong. "Well, how was I to know you really were famous? What kind of crazy world is this to have that kind of reaction to a runt like you?"

Harry narrowed his eyes. Dudley gulped. "Because I told you so. _I'm_ not the one who exaggerates things. Am I _Big D_?"

Harry hadn't noticed but Griphook had entered. "Are you having some trouble, Mr. Potter?"

Harry sighed. "Nothing too bad. My cousin here didn't believe my name was well known in this world and said it aloud in the Leaky Cauldron. Now the reporters know I'm here."

Griphook's eyebrows rose in disbelief. He turned to the Dursleys. "Mr. Potter is in all the history books, and not only wizard ones. Every magical being knows his name."

The Dursleys had such looks of disbelief and amazement on their faces that Harry had to laugh. "Anyway. Griphook, I'm glad you were able to meet with us. We have a situation. My relatives home was destroyed when Voldemort came to visit. They have some insurance, but I intend to make up the difference so they can rebuild their home just as it was."

Griphook's eyes stared hard at Harry. "Will this be using funds from…?"

"NO! It will come from my personal vault." Remus looked a little curious about this exchange, but Harry just proceeded. "I need to find out what the cost difference is for rebuilding and what insurance will pay them. Can you help with that?"

Griphook got a calculating look in his eye. "We have assessors here who could give you exact amounts." He turned to the Dursleys. "Who best knows everything that was in the house?"

The Dursleys looked at each other. Harry sighed. "I would guess Aunt Petunia would. She was there the most and had access to every room."

Griphook turned to Harry's aunt. "Would you consent to a scan?"

Aunt Petunia looked panicked. She turned to her husband with a pleading look. Uncle Vernon puffed up. "We don't hold with any of that unnatural freakiness that the boy does!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "You will if you want any money from me."

Uncle Vernon turned back to Aunt Petunia. Silent communication passed between them. Aunt Petunia sighed and her shoulders slumped a little. Then she straightened, "I suppose if I must."

Griphook gave a nod of acknowledgement. "What is the address of the dwelling?"

Harry gave it to him. Griphook wrote it down and took a few other notes. When he finished he rose from his seat and walked from the room. He returned in just a moment.

"Kruge will be here in just a moment to perform the scan. I have Warrigul checking on the insured coverage they have in place."

A smaller goblin entered. This one had dark slanted eyes and a pointed beard. He came in carrying a rolled blueprint. He spread it out on the table and Harry was surprised to find that it was Number 4.

Griphook motioned towards Aunt Petunia. "The female is the one to scan."

Kruge pulled out a stool near Aunt Petunia and got on it. Aunt Petunia was looking at him with revulsion, but didn't move away. The goblin touched her temple with one long finger. With his other finger he touched a room on the blueprint. Instantly unknown words and symbols started to fill the room he was touching. Harry could sort of tell where the furniture was by where the symbols went. He could tell where storage areas where because they had the largest concentration of words and symbols.

After a minute or two the flow stopped and he moved to another room. After the inside of the house was done, he continued with the shed, garage and greenhouse. Very little showed with the yard. The whole procedure took less than twenty minutes. When he was finished, he rolled up the blueprint with all the notes, gave a nod to Griphook and left without a word.

"Kruge and Warrigul should have an exact figure ready for you by the end of the day, Mr. Potter. Kruge is one of the best. He is able to tell what style of carpeting was originally purchased for any given room so a comparable one can be obtained to replace it."

Harry smiled at Griphook. "I like it." Harry turned to his uncle. "That way if you want to make any changes, like no fireplace in the living room, you may, but my part would already be done." His uncle nodded stiffly in agreement.

Harry decided it was time to figure out how to pay for the muggle items they would be purchasing today if they could get past the reporters. He told Griphook the situation and Griphook left the room for a moment then returned with two items. The first was a plastic card which worked like a credit card. It was charmed so that merchants would believe ID had already been verified. The money could be easily deducted from the amount Gringotts would be coming up with for the Dursleys settlement. The second item was a wallet that Harry could carry that was linked to his personal vault. If he wanted to purchase any items, it would provide the pounds or galleons, depending on which he needed. It was keyed to his touch and magic so only he could access it.

At the end of his explanation Griphook paused for a moment. "Mr. Potter, there is another detail I'm a little hesitant to bring up. I'm not sure this is the correct moment, but you should be made aware…."

Harry had never seen Griphook tentative on any subject. He was curious. "What is it?"

"Approximately one month ago in mid-February, Godric's Hollow became visible again. We now have the exact address of the property back on our records."

Harry froze. His eyes flew to Remus. He too was looking shocked by the news. Harry supposed it made sense since Wormtail died then and he had been the secret keeper, but….

Griphook continued. "I was able to discretely send a representative for you to collect any personal items that may still remain. There wasn't much. The building was pretty unstable after being left alone for fifteen years. What items there were I had removed to your vault. They have now completed the demolition to make the area safe for passing muggles. Now all that remains is the question, do you want to rebuild?"

Harry looked across at Remus. He seemed lost in memories. "It's not exactly an unknown location anymore, is it? There probably wouldn't be much privacy there."

"The exact address is not publicly known, only the village name. You could put unplottable spellwork on the location so the address does not become known."

Harry heaved a sigh. "Please do arrange for it to be made unplottable. I will probably rebuild it someday, but it can wait a few years. There's no hurry. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing else that needs your attention, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned and offered his hand to Griphook. "Thank you for all your help, Griphook. You've come through for me again." Harry turned to Remus. "Remus, do you think Mad-Eye could put some kind of disguise on me before we leave? Maybe we could get to London unnoticed that way."

Griphook paused by the door. "I may have one more thing I can do for you, Mr. Potter. It is not commonly known, but our tunnels do have some exits to muggle areas. They cannot be opened by any but a Gringotts goblin, but I could get you into muggle London without being seen."

Harry looked interested. "That would be great! We'd need to get Alastor Moody from the lobby. Would that be a problem?"

"No problem whatsoever. Follow me." Griphook turned and led them back through the unmarked hallways. Eventually they made their way back to the lobby and Remus collected Moody. They left through another door and went into the tunnels. The Dursleys were back to being thoroughly intimidated and were making no noise.

The ride on the carts was short, but sweet. Harry loved those cart rides. As it was rounding the last corner and beginning to slow, Harry heard a roar. It sounded quite close.

Sure enough, just ahead of where the track stopped was a dragon. Vernon Dursley would definitely need to shop for new clothes. Harry believed that his current ones had been soiled one too many times.

He was looking at the fifteen foot, copper colored dragon in terror. "Wh-what is that thing?"

Harry looked at him as if it were obvious. What else would have fangs, wings, scales and black ridged markings across its back? "A dragon, of course. But what kind? It's so small?"

Griphook grinned nastily. "We keep many Peruvian Vipertooths in our tunnels for security reasons. They are one of the most venomous dragons there is and also the fastest. If you weren't with me, you would be dead."

Dudley looked at Harry with wide eyes. "C-couldn't you shoot it with your stick?"

Harry shook his head. "Dragon hide is very resistant to magic. That just makes them mad." Remus, Moody and Harry did keep their hands near their wands, though.

Griphook led the way to a blank wall. There was one indentation that looked as if a small stone had fallen out that he put his finger against. He slowly started to drag his finger straight down and an opening in the wall appeared as if he had just unzipped it.

"This portal works similarly to your portal at Kings Cross Station. Once you pass through, you will be in the Underground station at Charing Cross. You can take the Underground to wherever you wish in muggle London."

Moody was staring through the portal with his magical eye. "All right, Lupin you go first and secure the area. I'll send the Dursleys through when you make the signal, then the lad and I will come last."

Remus looked at Griphook for permission and he nodded. Remus stepped through and disappeared. Shortly after that Moody gave the okay for the Dursley to go through. They were nervous, but they did so. Aunt Petunia seemed especially anxious to get back to 'normal' London.

When Moody went to usher Harry though, Harry stopped for just a moment. "Thank you, Griphook. If there's ever anything I can do for you, just let me know."

Griphook nodded in acknowledgement and Harry let Moody guide him through the Portal.

* * *

Shopping seemed quite anticlimactic compared to the morning. They took the tube to the Oxford Circus station and exited to do their shopping on Oxford Street. Oxford Street had it all. The shops ranged from specialty boutiques to large department stores. They found a large department store that Aunt Petunia thought would have most of the essentials they would need to last the weekend. First off was a new outfit for Vernon Dursley. The _scourgify_ charm only could clean so much. His older clothes were discarded in a rubbish bin.

After the initial purchase, the party split up. Harry stayed with Remus and Moody in a cafeteria while Aunt Petunia hunted down the clothing departments and Vernon took Dudley to the electronics department. Moody got a few strange looks drinking from his flask rather than making a purchase, but overall Harry was enjoying this quiet time with the other two men.

The other two knew that Griphook was working for Harry, it was in the papers after all, but they were surprised by how well they apparently got along. Both were amazed, as was Harry himself, actually, that Griphook allowed them to exit through a secret portal in the tunnel. They were willing to bet that no other wizards had used it in centuries.

Later Harry saw his Aunt Petunia making her way into the cafeteria. "I've had the clerk hold the items I want purchased. All she needs is the payment."

Harry nodded and got up along with Remus and Mad-Eye. They followed Aunt Petunia back to the sales clerk. The mound looked huge to Harry's eyes, but most of the clothing itself was huge since they had to fit such large people. The clerk rang it up and Harry paid for it. Remus, Moody and Harry took the many parcels and stepped outside of the store and found an empty alley. Remus and Moody shrank the items and they returned to the store.

They found the Dursleys in the electronics department debating which telly's to get. They knew they needed at least two to survive the weekend. Dudley didn't want to miss his shows and Vernon certainly wasn't going to miss his. After the choices were made and a few other necessities picked up Harry paid for those purchases as well. Again, they wheeled the purchases out to the nearby alley and shrank them.

Harry had a sudden thought. "Remus, I don't think there are any outlets in my home. What are we going to do?"

"You can leave that to me. I'll come with you and set it up. I helped James do something similar for a record player Lily wanted back at Godric's Hollow. I'm sure I can remember how."

Harry smiled in relief. "Thanks, Remus. They'd be unbearable otherwise."

Emergency shopping concluded, the Dursleys were herded into the empty alley. Harry called for his house elves and Winky. Harry said goodbye to Moody and the rest of the party popped away to Potters Place.

After Winky dropped off Remus, he got to work on the Dursley's room. The telly's were set up on opposite sides of the room. He was even able to get the same stations as Little Whinging had.

Uncle Vernon was again confined to the room and Winky returned with some of Remus' items so he could stay the weekend. This was happy news. As much as Harry liked his house, he liked it better with Remus.

Friday evening Hermione came with Ginny to drop off homework for Harry to work on over the weekend. Harry thanked her, but really felt he wouldn't have minded waiting until next week since he had the excuse he wasn't there to do it. In the end it worked out well, though. Harry worked on homework Saturday and Sunday morning and spent time with Remus in the afternoon.

Dudley was amazed Saturday morning to see Harry's face plastered all over the Daily Prophet. He'd wanted a break from his parents and needed something to look at while he ate. Since there wasn't a telly in this area he had grabbed the paper. The photo was a black and white picture showing Harry mostly hiding behind Remus. Remus was running interference between Harry and the crowd, but every so often you could see a smile pass between the two. The article mentioned that Remus was a friend of Harry's parents.

Early Sunday evening Professor Dumbledore came with news. The warding was done the previous evening on Aunt Marge's home and early this morning Lucius Malfoy had attempted to attack the Dursley look a-likes that had moved in. He, himself got away, but they were able to capture two other Death Eater's that had accompanied him. The Professor thought it would be as safe as possible for the Dursleys to move in at this time. He did not believe Lucius Malfoy would make the attempt again.

Harry felt like cheering. The news was well received by the Dursleys too. They quickly packed up what they had and Professor Dumbledore shrank it. He took a hanger and made it into a portkey. He instructed the Dursley family to each touch a portion of the hanger. Dumbledore himself would go along to bring their possessions and to see them settled in their temporary home. Dumbledore offered to make another portkey to bring Harry to Hogwarts, but Harry declined and said he would rather make his own way there. Professor Dumbledore gave a chuckle and told him he'd see him soon.

Harry looked at his relatives. He supposed he should be feeling some type of regret or something at their possibly never seeing each other again, but he just couldn't feel it. "I hope you have a happy life. I hope you can reach that point were you can stick your head back in the sand and forget this past weekend ever happened. The money's in your account. Goodbye."

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn't seem to know what to say. Time ran out and they all disappeared.

* * *

Harry just stared at the spot the Dursley's had vacated for a moment. Then he shook himself and looked over to Remus. "What are your plans?"

Remus gave him a one-armed hug and walked with Harry back to his room. "The full moon is only a little more than a week away, so I think I'll just stay around town. I'll leave again after the full moon."

"That's during Easter holidays this year. I don't know yet if I'm staying at school or coming here or Headquarters. I guess I'll wait until Dumbledore tells me."

Harry finished the last of his packing. His homework was in his trunk so he shrank it down. Remus looked at him in amusement. "So how are you getting to Hogwarts? Are you going to have a house elf take you?"

Harry just smirked at him and changed to Flame. Remus shook his head, laughing. "I'd forgotten about that. I suppose that works just as well."

Harry changed back again to give one last hug to his father's friend. "Thanks for coming, Remus. I'm glad you were here."

"You know I'd always come, cub." Remus smiled at Harry. "Keep in touch."

Harry grinned and backed away, turned into Flame and disappeared in a little ball of fire.

* * *

Harry reappeared inside his four poster in Gryffindor Tower. He changed back and checked to see if anyone was around. The dorm was empty so he was able to get out without questions. He re-enlarged his trunk and made his way down to the Great Hall for some dinner.

His friends were happy to see him. He assured Hermione his homework was completed and after the meal they decided to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather outside.

The sun was beginning to set and it cast a reddish glow on the horizon. Harry relaxed, listening to his friends talk quietly around him. He lay back on the blanket they had conjured to sit on and let the sounds of their voices float around him. He closed his eyes.

_Harry could feel a terrible rage inside of him pulling him onwards through space. He opened his eyes and saw he was in a room filling with Death Eaters. He was in a dark corner behind a pacing figure. Finally the one the figure had been waiting for apparently arrived for the pacing stopped. One by one the Death Eaters crawled forward to kiss the hem of their master's robe._

_The Dark Lord started coolly, "I see we are missing a couple of loyal Death Eaters tonight. Lucius, do you care to explain why Crabbe and Goyle are not here, or why you are **limping**?" Some of the rage boiling inside of the monster escaped with his last word._

_One Death Eater stepped forward. Harry could see gray eyes through the mask holes. He kneeled. The smooth tones of Lucius Malfoy reached Harry's ears. "Master, I thought only to finish your plan with those muggles of Potters as you had promised to me. We went to attack their house, but the Ministry must have realized they were still a prime target because they were well protected. I managed to get away, but Crabbe and Goyle did not and they were captured by Aurors."_

"_Did you or did you not hear me say that there was a change in plans! Let the Ministry waste their personnel guarding those muggles. I do not want them touched!" There was some surprise coming from the Death Eaters at this statement. "Remove your mask." Lucius seemed to become frightened at those orders, but he took his mask off. Everyone else seemed to take a step back. "Potter hates those muggles and I will do him no favors in ridding the world of them. Let him do it himself!" Voldemort took a moment to compose himself then turned his focus back to Lucius. "Lucius, you have disappointed me one too many times. I have been patient with you but your continual failures will be tolerated no more. Running from my Dark Mark before my rebirth, being captured at the Ministry and allowing the prophesy to be destroyed, allowing Potter and the muggles to escape. My patience has run out."_

_Lucius was trembling. Harry had a bad feeling in his stomach. "Master, I most humbly apologize, please…." He looked up and Harry could see the fear in his gray eyes._

"_Avada Kedavra!" A flash of green light and Lucius slumped over, his eyes now glassy and lifeless. Harry felt a flash of internal satisfaction he knew came from Voldemort. Harry himself just felt sick. He definitely didn't like Malfoy, but to see him killed…._

_Voldemort turned to his other Death Eaters. "Now is there anyone else who has decided they wanted to **think**?"_

"…Harry? Wake up, Harry!"

Harry could hear the distant voice calling him through the pain in his scar. He was breathing heavily and slowly opened his eyes to see his friends faces over him looking at him in concern.

Ginny was looking worried. "Do you need to go to the Headmaster, Harry?"

Harry's eyes were watering from the pain. He kept his palm pressed tightly against his scar. "Yeah, I reckon I'd better."

His friends went with him back to the castle. They found the Headmaster near the Great Hall. "Professor, he just killed Lucius Malfoy."

The Headmaster looked up sharply. He focused intently on Harry's strained features. "Come to my office and we'll have a talk."

* * *

Harry left the Headmaster's study tired and rubbing his aching scar. It was still twinging. He'd told him everything he could remember of what he'd seen. He was just letting his feet guide him back to Gryffindor Tower when he was suddenly pulled into an empty room.

Draco Malfoy was alone and had his wand aimed at Harry's head. "You'd better tell me what's going on, Potter! Pansy said she heard you tell the Headmaster that someone killed my father. What were you talking about?"

Harry froze. He didn't want to be the one to tell Draco his father had been killed. He slowly lifted his hands up in a placating gesture. "Look, Draco, she must have misunderstood."

The blond-haired boy's eyes narrowed and turned nasty. "Since when have you called me 'Draco'? I don't think she misunderstood at all. You _will_ tell me what you were talking about." He sent a partial immobilizing curse at Harry so he couldn't move.

Harry's body was immobilized, but he still could talk. "Look, Draco, you don't want to hear this from me. Just let me go."

Draco didn't lower his wand at all. "Start talking, Potter. You were rubbing that scar again. What happens when it hurts you? Something happens. It happened that day in Defense class. You knew when Umbridge was killed. How?"

"I didn't know what happened that time. I can sometimes feel Voldemort's strong emotions. He'd been broadcasting like crazy that day."

"You didn't know 'that' time. You do this time. What happened? You won't be leaving here until you tell me and if you don't start talking soon, you're going to start getting hexed."

Harry could tell Draco wasn't going to back down. His gray eyes were a mixture of hatred and fear of what he might hear. Harry closed his eyes. "Sometimes I see visions. Lord Voldemort can plant some that are not true, but most of them are. This past week Lord Voldemort gave your father an assignment. Your father completed the first part, but it was frustrating for him. As a reward Lord Voldemort promised him some muggles to torture and kill.

"The assignment was progressing as planned and then something changed. Lord Voldemort decided that those particular muggles were to be killed by someone else. The assignment fell apart shortly after that and the muggles got away. I assume your father thought they were fair game again and went to collect on his original promised torture and killing. Unfortunately, he couldn't get to the muggles and Crabbe and Goyle who went with him were caught by aurors this morning."

Harry paused for a moment. "Draco, let me stop here. Not everything I see in visions is real."

Draco's eyes flashed. "It was real enough to bring to the Headmaster. Keep going."

Harry sighed. "In the vision, Lord Voldemort was angry. He called your father up before the others and had him explain what happened this morning. He then said he'd run out of patience with his failures. He made him take off his mask and then killed him with the killing curse."

Draco was breathing hard. "You're lying. He wouldn't kill my father. My father has always been loyal him. He doesn't kill his own Death Eaters!"

"He always has. He killed your mother's cousin, Regulus Black who was a Death Eater years ago during the first war. He killed Wormtail, who helped bring him back, just last month. Seeing his death is why Ron and Hermione can now see Thestrals. He doesn't tolerate disobedience even when _he_ didn't explain his orders well."

The blond stared more intensely at Harry. "You seem to know this story pretty well. You're more involved in this than you let on, aren't you?" Harry didn't say anything. "You live with muggles. You were even gone last week because of some death in their family, weren't you? The Dark Lord hates you and has said he was going to kill you. You're in this thing up to your neck, aren't you, Potter? You're the reason things went bad for my father!"

Draco's voice was rising and Harry started to get angry. Draco was pushing at the secret guilt Harry always carried. "I didn't kill anybody! I'm not the one who says the curse. It's that maniac Dark Lord of yours who's killing everybody off!" With the surge of anger Harry felt, he was able to throw off the immobilizing curse.

With a loud bang, the door slammed open and Snape strode into the room. "Potter, Malfoy, what is all the shouting in here? It's late and you're out of bounds. Fifty points from Gryffindor, Potter, and get back to your tower. Draco, you come with me."

The sneer was in full place when Snape looked at Harry, but he wondered if there was something more in his expression when he looked at Malfoy. Pity? Compassion? Harry wondered if he had been there tonight.

Draco gave one more glare at Harry then left with Snape. Harry slowly made his way back to his common room to report to his friends.

* * *

Monday morning at breakfast a school owl landed in front of Harry. He removed the message and started to read.

_Mr. Potter,_

_I would advise you to tread cautiously around Mr. Malfoy. He has taken the death of his father very hard and rightly or wrongly, is blaming you for it. Do not let yourself be caught unaware._

_Professor Snape_

Harry glanced up at the Head table. Snape wasn't looking his way. He looked over towards the Slytherin table and saw that Malfoy was ignoring his friends and staring intently back at Harry.

Ron was sitting next to Harry and had read the note over his shoulder. He, too, glanced around and noticed Draco's stare. "Hope he don't turn in to Stalker #3," was his muttered comment.

"If he does," Harry replied, "I think he'll be much worse than one and two ever were."


	19. Remus

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

Chapter 19 Remus

After breakfast, Harry went back to his dorm and pulled out his mirror. He needed to talk to Remus. Remus listened patiently while Harry recounted his vision and run in with Draco afterward and then the warning this morning. Remus advised him not to blame himself. There was nothing he could do in the visions and what else should he have done in his situation with the Dursleys? It literally was a situation that if he hadn't done what he did, they would have been killed. Harry knew that, of course, but sometimes his feelings just weren't logical, but it did help to talk to Remus.

Mid-way through Defense Against the Dark Arts, Draco was called out of class. He didn't return. Rumor had it that he was called home.

Harry got another warning Monday night. He had potions tutoring and Audra said Malfoy had been quieter than normal Sunday night, which didn't seem a good sign. Beyond an early muttering of how everything was Potter's fault, he then seemed to quietly concentrate on different schemes and plots. Audra said he gave her the willies and seemed to be more dangerous than in the past. Normally he was mostly hot air, but now he had seemed quietly determined.

Harry's friends decided that they would keep some type of guard around him during the day. Harry promised to use his cloak and map more often for his meetings at night to stay on his guard.

* * *

Draco was gone from the school Tuesday and Wednesday, but returned on Thursday. Thursday morning Harry, Ron and Hermione had Care of Magical Creatures. Hagrid now had them studying Jarveys. The jarvey they were near was a white one, very similar in looks to a ferret. It was busy issuing a long stream of profanities at the class while Ron couldn't help but snicker. "Brings back memories of fourth year, doesn't it?"

Draco Malfoy happened to be in their group as well as Crabbe and Goyle. He was looking daggers at the little animal. Ron couldn't help it. "Bring back memories, ferret-boy?"

Draco just turned his head and glared at Ron. Hermione had jabbed him in the ribs to hush him, but Ron was about to say more. Harry put a hand on his arm and shook his head. Ron settled back down.

That seemed to anger Malfoy more than the insult had. "What's the matter, Weasel? Going to let Potty and the Mudblood hold you back? Can't do anything for yourself anymore? Want her so bad you'd do anything, wouldn't you? But…wait a minute, it wasn't the Mudblood who stopped you...What _could_ that mean?"

Harry stepped forward. Malfoy tensed and seemed to almost smile in anticipation. Harry just looked at Malfoy for a moment. "I'm sorry if any of our comments brought back bad memories, Draco. We'll leave you be." Harry saw Draco's face darken as he turned away.

Harry and his friends moved off to a different jarvey. They settled on the ground and took out their drawing supplies so they could draw this brown spotted jarvey. This one also kept up rude phrases, but they were not quite as offensive as the white jarvey.

Ron was still a little peeved at Malfoy's comments. "Why'd you go apologize to the git for, Harry?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This is not the time to be antagonizing him. Couldn't you see he was just spoiling for a fight?"

Ron shrugged. "Maybe," He frowned in confusion. "Harry, how'd you not lose your temper?"

It was Harry's turn to shrug. "Things seem different since that vision. All the fighting I've done with him just seems pointless. I saw his father die. I know it wasn't my fault and I wouldn't do anything different, but I _was_ a factor. You know how much he seemed to admire his father. I keep thinking of how I felt when Sirius died."

"Is that why you keep calling him 'Draco' instead of 'Malfoy'? You feel sorry for him?"

Harry thought for a moment. "Not totally, I think. Saying 'Malfoy' brings his father to mind. I'd rather not think of him if I can help it."

Ron seemed to accept that. "Hate to tell ya, but that seems to be getting him angrier yet. Don't think he wants sympathy from you, either."

"I wouldn't care if I could just keep avoiding him. Don't have to call him anything that way!" Harry gave a half-grin and the friends shrugged off the heavy mood and proceeded with their lesson.

Thursday night, Harry was monitoring the practice in a DA meeting when he heard his name being called from his mirror. Remus had suggested he carry it around as just another precaution. If Malfoy should do something, Harry might be able to get in touch with Remus and he could get help for Harry.

Harry was surprised, but took out the mirror. He gave a quick look around and didn't think anyone was paying any particular attention to him so decided to answer right there. "Remus! Good to hear from you. What's up?"

The face that appeared in the mirror didn't look good. There was a long scratch on his left cheek and he seemed to be sporting several bruises. "I'm sorry, cub. They got me. There was an ambush set up earlier tonight."

"_What_?" Harry didn't notice the entire room settled into quiet. "No! No, where are you? We can get you out! I did it before, I'll do it again!"

"Not this time, Harry. You can't come anywhere near this place! I don't know where it is, but it's got to be one of their strongholds. There are Death Eaters all over."

In the background Harry could hear Ron telling Hermione to use the map and get Dumbledore. Distantly he then heard him releasing all the students. Ginny was next to Harry and had her arms around his waist in support. None of it meant anything to him at the moment. Harry was in a state of shock.

"I just wanted to tell you I love you, cub," Remus said softly.

There was something building up inside of Harry that wanted to tear him apart. "I love you, too, Moony."

A hand landed on Harry's shoulder. "Harry?" Harry looked up to see the Headmaster. Harry gestured towards the mirror.

"They've got Remus." Harry reluctantly handed it over and felt himself being guided over to a cushion. He finally looked around in a daze. The room had been emptied. Professor Snape was looking around in interest at the large room. It was larger than any regular classroom. The books and dark detectors seemed to especially hold his interest. Harry was interested to note that the foe glass did not become any clearer when he was around this time as it had when Barty Crouch was using it. He had already decided to put in trust in Dumbledore's faith, but it didn't hurt to have it reinforced this way. He may not like the man, but he finally believed he was on their side.

Harry's friends were all crowded around him. Harry felt cold. Colder than he'd ever felt before. It wasn't anything from the outside, it was something deep inside that froze over. He fixed his gaze on the Headmaster, talking in the mirror.

Someone must have been coming on Remus' end because the conversation abruptly cut off. Dumbledore handed the mirror back to Harry. The mirror was dark but Harry could hear words in the background, too faint to understand. Harry held the mirror close to his body, almost hugging it.

Dumbledore and Snape were having a low conversation. Snape was saying something about new wards put in place since the past weekend. He actually was surprised the mirror got through. Harry had a hope. "Is there any way we can find him through the mirror's magic? Is there some kind of trail?"

Snape rolled his eyes, but Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "I don't think so, Harry, but I can try. Would you loan it to me?"

Harry was breathing shallowly. He didn't want to give up the mirror. It was his last link with Remus. But if there was any chance that it could possibly save him….He handed it to Dumbledore.

"I will see what I can do." The Headmaster once again rested a hand on Harry's shoulder before leaving the room, Professor Snape following.

Harry's friends gathered around him. They led him out of the Room of Requirement and back to their Common Room. The room was silent as they entered. Most were members of the DA and knew something bad had happened.

Harry spent a restless night. He couldn't sleep. All he could think about was Remus and wonder if he was being tortured or killed.

Friday was the last day before Easter Holidays. At breakfast his gaze went immediately to the Head table but Dumbledore wasn't there. Harry stumbled through his morning classes in a daze. There seemed to be more people around him than usual. The DA was taking up a guard around him to assure his safety while he was distracted. They kept all other curious watchers at bay.

At noon, Dumbledore was at the Head table. Harry looked at him hopefully, but he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Harry. We could not find a way to trace a path to him using the mirror's connection. It was a slim hope at best." He handed the precious mirror back to Harry. Harry hugged it to his chest. "If you need to talk to anyone, you can always come to me. The password is _Fairy Floss_."

Harry decided to skip his afternoon class. He was glad he did when screams started coming from the mirror. They tore at Harry's heart. It was agonizing listening to them and after a short time Harry could stand it no longer. His eyes were damp but his face got a determined look and he changed to Flame. If there was any way possible to get him out of there, he had to try. He didn't care if the place was crawling with Death Eaters. He concentrated on Remus, on being where Remus was. Nothing happened.

With a cry of frustration and despair, Harry changed back. It had worked before. Why wasn't it working now? All Harry could do was wait and listen.

After about thirty minutes, the screams finally stopped. Harry didn't know if that was a good thing or bad. He was glad the pain stopped, but was Remus still alive?

An hour later Remus' face appeared in the mirror again. Harry had been lying in his four-poster just holding on desperately to the mirror when he heard his name. Remus' pale face appeared.

"Harry?"

"Remus! Are you okay? The Headmaster tried to find you through the mirror but couldn't locate you."

"I'm as well as can be expected. I didn't expect he would be able to." Remus looked resigned and tired.

"I tried to get to you, too, but I can't." Harry's eyes were bright with tears, but they didn't fall.

"That's for the best, Harry. I just want you to tell Professor Dumbledore one last thing, cub, and then I want you to destroy the mirror."

"No!" Harry couldn't let this last connection to his father's friend disappear.

"It's better that it get destroyed in case it could be used by them!" Remus paused and seemed to get himself back under control. "Now listen to me. Tell Dumbledore…" He broke off, seemingly not able to continue.

"Talk to me, Moony. What are you so worried about?" Harry could tell there was something more worrying Remus than his potential death. He'd seemed resigned to it yesterday, even though Harry didn't want to accept it.

Remus closed his eyes for a moment. "You know what's coming up next week. They're not giving me food." Harry gasped. "I'm afraid they have plans for the werewolf." Remus was sounding defeated.

Harry felt a shudder go through him. As much as Harry didn't want Remus to die, he knew Remus would much rather die than attack anyone as a werewolf. Next Monday night was the full moon.

Remus continued, "I've been trying to goad them into killing me, but they must have orders not to and there's nothing here I can use to do it myself. There's no silver here." Werewolves were hard to kill. Beyond the stress of the monthly transformations wearing them out and dying of premature old age, it pretty much had to be a killing curse or something made of silver penetrating the skin.

Suddenly Harry saw Remus look up. He heard a distant harsh voice cry, "_Accio mirror!"_

Before Harry could think that he should stop the connection, a face with heavy-lidded eyes looked into the mirror. Bellatrix LeStrange looked in curiously, then her face lit up with glee.

"Ah, a two-way mirror. Potter, there isn't anyone I'd rather see than you." She gave a cackle of laughter then composed herself enough to talk in a mock baby voice. "Is wittle baby Potter sad to see his big pwotector getting huwt?" Her voice turned sharp again. "Do you _love_ him like you did my dear cousin? Get used to it. This is what will happen to all those you love."

She settled back to enjoy the look of pain on Harry's face. "Are you about to _cwy_, little baby Potter? It is thanks to you that my Master came up with this plan. Such a _lovely_ picture you made in the Prophet."

Harry was hearing the words and they were striking painfully in his chest. Each one a direct hit on his heart. It was his fault they went after Moony. His fault….

Remus suddenly started shouting from out of sight of the mirror. "Don't listen to her, Harry. I love you. Fight back! Don't let them cut you off from your friends. Destroy the mirror! Out!"

Harry knew his face blinked out of the mirror in Bellatrix's hands. Her gaunt face twisted in rage and she tossed the mirror aside. A crack appeared in it and he heard her scream "_Crucio!_"

Remus' screams started up again. Harry just sat there shaking, unable to move. He could only listen to those painful screams.

Then a new voice sounded across the connection. A high, cold voice that gave Harry chills down his back. "What are you doing, Bella? I said I did not want him in too bad a condition! It is not time yet for you to have your fun."

Harry could hear the sudden sycophantic tone in Bellatrix's voice. "I'm sorry, my Master. The werewolf had a mirror in which he was communicating with Potter. He broke the connection and my anger overtook me. I will do better." Harry could almost see her groveling at Voldemort's feet in his mind's eye.

"Potter?" The name was drawled out. Harry heard no incantation, but suddenly the view was changing as the mirror was flying across the room. Voldemort's face appeared in it and somehow Harry knew that even though the mirror was out on that side, he could see Harry's face in it. Harry broke out of his paralysis.

"Out!" Harry threw the mirror across the room. The glass cracked, but Harry could see it start to glow green. Harry pointed his wand at it. "_Reducto_!" The curse hit it and it shattered.

Harry closed his eyes, panting. He decided to gather the pieces together and bring them to Dumbledore. He used his wand to make the pieces fly into a bag. He wasn't sure he wanted to touch them yet. He made his way to the stone gargoyle and used the password to access the office. At the top of the stairs, he knocked on the door. When he heard permission to enter, he did so and set the bag of broken pieces of the mirror on the Headmaster's desk.

He told him of Remus' fear and all that happened with Bellatrix and Voldemort, ending with the mirror glowing and him blowing it up with the Reductor curse.

"I will test the pieces to make sure there is no dark magic in them." Dumbledore looked at Harry over his half-moon glasses. "How are _you_ doing, Harry?"

Harry took a painful breath. "They took him because of me. She told me straight to my face that it was because I love him that he was taken." Harry looked down at his fisted hands. "Remus told me to fight her by not cutting myself off from my friends, but I don't know if I can go through something like this again. I'm not sure I'll make it through this time."

"You can make it through. You have many who love you and will support you through this. Easter Holidays start tomorrow. I had thought you should stay here, but if you would rather, I can make arrangements for you to stay at Grimmauld Place. Which would you prefer?"

Harry thought about it. "Could my friends come, too?"

"Of course, Harry,"

"Then I would prefer to go to Grimmauld Place." Harry suddenly felt a need to be where Sirius and Moony had spent a lot of their time. He needed to feel close to them.

"I will make the arrangements."

"Thank you, sir," Harry rose and returned to his dorm.

* * *

Mrs. Weasley had been persuaded to stay with the teenagers at Grimmauld Place. Ron, Hermione and Ginny went with him. Their support never wavered when Harry told him of his last conversation with Remus and what Bellatrix had said.

During the day, Harry ghosted around shadowing any Order members who would come in, hoping for some shred of news. He melted into the shadows and generally went unnoticed when they would talk to each other. Harry was once again thankful for some of his 'make no noise, pretend I don't exist' upbringing, because it allowed him to go mostly unseen.

When there were no members around, his friends tried to distract him with conversation or playing games. Harry's heart wasn't in it, but he appreciated their efforts and tried his best to keep his focus on them.

It was at night that his fears really got to Harry. He took to going to Remus' room late at night and transforming to Shadow. Remus' scent was much stronger that way and Harry felt closer to him, but his fears seemed more distant. Shadow would curl up on Remus' bed to fall asleep.

It was on Monday, the night of the full moon, that Dumbledore came in. It was early evening. Harry stayed in a corner of the kitchen. Dumbledore looked at him sadly but did not order him to go. Order members started filing in. When everyone was seated, the Headmaster started. "Severus was able to get word that Remus will be taken to Diagon Alley tonight." Several gasps were heard. Monday night was one of the busier nights at Diagon Alley. The Professor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Is everyone familiar with the silver dart spell? The incantation is '_argentum spiculum'._ Everyone should practice it."

Harry closed his eyes tightly. Tears were building up behind his eyes. He knew Remus would rather die than hurt someone in his werewolf form, but Harry couldn't stand this. Everyone was quietly murmuring the spell and shooting little, _deadly_ silver darts towards the far wall. There had to be something Harry could do! There just had to be. He couldn't lose Remus, too!

The Order started making its way out of the kitchen to find strategic spots in Diagon Alley. Harry sat there slowly shaking his head 'no'. Professor Dumbledore came near and crouched down in front of Harry. "I wish there was something else we could do. Severus reports that the Death Eaters have not fed him for three days and have harmed him in ways to make the werewolf more violent than ever. You know Remus would never want to hurt innocent people."

Harry looked up, his eyes shining with the tears he wouldn't let fall. Dumbledore looked uncertain and old. Harry wondered if he thought Harry would blame him for essentially putting a death sentence on Remus. "I know, Professor. He taught me that spell himself, a year ago, just in case."

Dumbledore closed his eyes in apparent relief that Harry accepted the decision, even if he wished it could be another way. He held his arms open. Harry threw himself in them and felt his eyes burning with the effort of holding back his tears. His shoulders shook as his Headmaster held him. Harry held him tightly. He didn't dare let himself breakdown. Net yet. If he did, it would be like admitting that Remus was already as good as dead. Just like Sirius….

Eventually Harry pulled away. The Headmaster looked at him intently. "I have to go now. I will see you in the morning." The professor got up from the floor and headed out of the kitchen.

Harry's friends were near the doorway. Harry idly wondered how long they had been there, if they'd seen his little breakdown with the Headmaster. Harry wiped his face with his sleeve making sure there were no tears. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Harry chanced a look at their faces. Tears were streaming down Ginny and Hermione's faces. Ron's face was pale and set.

Finally, Harry said softly, "I'm going there. Maybe there's something I can do. Maybe I could somehow get him transported to the Shrieking Shack."

Hermione started shaking her head. "If he's wild, you couldn't get near him in your phoenix form to transport him. He'd rip you to shreds."

"I've got to try, Hermione. Even if I can't do anything, I can't sit here. Maybe I could calm him enough as Shadow to be able to transform to Flame."

"Or you might terrify everyone else into attacking you as well." Hermione pointed out a very real possibility.

Ginny broke in. "Take us along. Maybe we can help."

Harry was shaking his head. "Only if you can travel with me in animal form. There's no way I'd take you as humans. We don't know where Remus is. I could drop you right in front of him. We can't risk that."

Ron prodded him. "Then go on, mate. Change to Flame and we'll change, too."

Hermione put a hand on his shoulder to stop him for a moment. "Harry, be careful. Your venom has traces of silver nitrate in it. The amount is minute, but it is there."

Harry nodded to Hermione in acknowledgement. He closed his eyes and let his phoenix form take over. He opened his eyes and shortly saw the kitchen filled with his friends in their forms.

Harry turned and spread Flames golden tail feathers apart. Skye hopped over and took one of the tail feathers in her beak. Leo tried to as well, but couldn't get a good hold on them with his mouth. He looked pleadingly at Spots. She carefully bit down on a feather and wrapped two paws around Leo' mane. Skye hopped onto his back and dug her talons into his ruff. He whimpered a little but turned to look at Flame, who had his head turned backwards to watch his friends. Flame rose a little in the air just to make sure everyone was connected. They were, so he flashed them to Diagon Alley.

They appeared in an alley near the entrance. Harry briefly turned back to himself before changing into Shadow. With a powerful beat of his wings he took to the air. He flew high to take a good look around. The moon was just coming out so he knew it would be soon that Moony would arrive. He could sense Skye hovering along beside him.

Suddenly Skye let out a screech and went into a sharp dive, aiming for the entrance to the Alley by the Leaky Cauldron. Screams started to be heard. Harry could see Spots and Leo running along the ground aiming for where they'd seen Skye dive. Order members were also running towards the commotion. Harry followed Skye in her dive and finally saw what she had seen.

The werewolf was near the entrance and was, for the moment, disoriented. Harry knew that wouldn't last long. Harry noticed with Shadows vision showed a strange, twining aura around the werewolf. Suddenly the werewolf seemed to snap out of it with a loud howl. His eyes started focusing on the people around him, most of who were running for their lives. The Order was having trouble fighting the flow of panicked crowds to get near the werewolf. The werewolf's nose twitched and he started racing after the crowd.

Skye started to dive bomb the werewolf to distract him from the crowds. The large bird succeeded as the werewolf started taking swipes at her, snapping his powerful jaws. Loud snarls filled the air as Shadow tackled the werewolf and forced him to the ground. Moony was clearly crazed and fighting with an obsessed air, trying to get away from the creature holding him down. Harry was taking some bad scratches from his claws. Leo joined the fray. While Shadow kept hold of the hind legs of the werewolf, Leo added his weight to take down the front half of the werewolf. Harry took a moment to glance around. Most of the crowd had made it into the buildings and he could now see Order Members surrounding them at a distance. Skye and Spots were making circuits around the fight area trying to force the Aurors and Order members to stay back. As his gaze met some, he noticed Hermione had been right. They were as scared of him as they were of the werewolf.

From the corner of his eye, Harry saw a silver streak race across towards them. Suddenly Leo gave a painful roar and the werewolf was able to throw him off. Leo went flying and hit a wall. He didn't get back up. Harry didn't have much time to take in Spots running towards the fallen figure or the crazy bird dive bombing the auror who had shot the curse.

When the werewolf had thrown the lion, Harry noticed a necklace around his neck snapped and fell to the ground. The emblem on the necklace was the dark mark. Harry suspected that had been the portkey that had brought him here.

The werewolf threw Shadow off him as well. Harry could tell he was bleeding pretty badly but he got back to his feet and lunged at Moony again. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain as a silver dart entered his back, just below his ribs. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep the werewolf back for much longer. Harry had to make a terrible decision. He bit Moony.

Harry could feel the venom leave his fangs and taste the warm, coppery taste of Moony's blood. He suddenly remembered back to when he had felt he was the snake that bit Mr. Weasley. His jaws weren't breaking ribs, but the déjà vu was a little too real for him. He inwardly winced. The venom released should be enough to incapacitate a man for half an hour. He released the werewolf. Moony stumbled but started towards the waiting aurors again. Harry could understand the werewolf was obsessed. When he wasn't actively fighting Harry, he would shift his gaze to the humans and his focus would be intense. The impressions of words coming from the werewolf "Kill, smell blood, destroy…" Harry bit him again. Harry was inwardly crying as he felt even more venom leaving his fangs.

The werewolf stumbled again but was still struggling, lashing out with his claws and snapping his teeth. Harry briefly focused on the aura around the creature. It was fading. He looked up and met the werewolf's eyes. Moony still had bloodlust rampant in his eyes and an obsessed fanaticism. Harry's strength was leaving and the creature was getting loose. Harry then knew the werewolf would never stop until it was dead. Harry bit him a third time. Finally the werewolf fell. This time he didn't struggle. His panting became a painful whine. The body under Shadow shifted and became human again. Remus lay there bleeding, gasping for breath. Harry could see the aura flickering and smell the death gathering around the fallen man. Its smell was getting stronger and stronger. Harry let out an anguished howl. With his howl he heard other animal cries. His friends gathered around. Leo had even recovered and limped his way over to where Harry and Remus lay.

Harry couldn't stand the stench any longer. Part of Remus had already died. He could see and smell that. His body was still breathing, however, and Harry decided that when Remus finally died, he wasn't going to die on some public street. Under the cover of his friends, Harry changed directly to Flame. He felt pain from the transformation. He'd never gone from the one form directly to the other. It didn't hurt as bad as the initial transformations, but it was bad enough. He let out a painful howl that morphed into a shriek. He grabbed hold of Remus with his talons and, ignoring his painful wounds, flashed to the Shrieking Shack.

The sudden silence of the shack was deafening to Harry. He had killed the only parental figure he had left who cared just for him. No matter how much he knew it was what Remus would have wanted, Harry couldn't stand it. He let out mournful shriek as pearly tears ran down his cheeks. Some landed on the dying Remus.

Harry knew Remus was too far gone to be healed by his tears, but at least he could close the gaping wounds. Harry laid his head against the first bite and let the tears close it up. He repeated his actions for the other two bites. Remus' gasps started to become a little calmer.

Harry knew it might be a stupid thing to do, but he changed back into his normal self. Remus was dying, no longer in his werewolf form and it was directly by Harry's hand so to speak. Harry wanted to spend the last minutes with Remus as himself. He didn't think Remus was capable of trying to bite anyone anymore. Harry moved some blankets around Remus to keep him warm and just spent the rest of the night stroking his hair, holding his hand and telling him over and over how sorry he was.


	20. Inspections and Visits

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

Chapter 20 Inspections and Visits

Light was breaking through the window when Harry was disturbed by a noise near the entrance. Harry had been sitting for the last hour or so just staring into space, holding Remus' hand, idly squeezing it from time to time. Professor Dumbledore entered followed by Professors McGonagall and Snape. Harry didn't move. He just stayed on the floor near Remus.

Professor Dumbledore knelt down next to Harry. Harry lifted his vacant gaze to the Headmaster. He had no emotions left. He felt wrung out. "He's still alive, but I don't know for how long."

The Headmaster nodded and reached for Remus' pulse. His eyes widened and he moved his wand over Remus in a complex pattern. He looked to the other professors. "We need to get him to the Hospital Wing right away."

Harry looked up. The other two professors got to work putting Remus in a binding and floating him back to the entrance. Harry felt like he should protest. They were taking Remus away from him. He wanted to be there when Remus died. They shouldn't take him away.

Before he knew it, the Professors had taken Remus and left. Harry slowly got up. He now noticed that besides being stiff from sitting on a cold floor all night, he ached all over. He also had several long gashes in his side that he had ignored that now demanded his attention. He wrapped an arm around his side and slowly made his way back to Hogwarts.

As Harry made his way to the Hospital Wing he realized he felt quite dizzy. The most painful wound in his side seemed to have broken open again and he kept his hand pressed tightly against it to keep the blood flow down.

Harry slowly opened the doors and walked into the ward. To his surprise he saw Ron sleeping in a bed with several bandages on various parts of his body. Harry collapsed into a chair near him. Further down the ward Harry saw the professors and Madam Pomfrey clustered around a bed. Snatches of conversations floated down from the agitated group of people.

"I have no idea how, Albus."

"…shock. He is definitely slipping away…"

"…like snake venom but different…"

"How is it possible…?"

Harry closed his eyes and stopped listening.

It took Harry a while to notice he was shivering. He was vaguely surprised at that. He usually never felt cold in the infirmary. He looked to the bed next to Ron's. Sure enough, there was a blanket at the foot. Harry raised a slightly shaking wand and muttered, "_Accio blanket_".

He covered himself with the blanket, but it didn't seem to touch the chill he felt. Strangely he also felt clammy at the same time. He didn't have the strength to keep sitting upright so he slumped in his chair and just watched Ron sleep.

* * *

"Mr. Potter." Harry vaguely heard his name being called and opened his eyes. It was surprisingly difficult. Professor Snape was glaring down at him. 

"Mr. Potter, how did you get here? Why did you leave Headquarters?"

Harry looked around in a daze. Madam Pomfrey, Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall and Remus' body were gone. "Where are they?"

Snape twitched in irritation at the question. "Madam Pomfrey did not feel she could properly help the werewolf so they brought him to St. Mungo's."

Harry felt even more depressed. So they brought him even further away from him. He had wanted to be with Remus at the end so much, but what right would he have to get his wish when he was his killer?

"Now answer my question, Mr. Potter. How did you get here and why were you found near the werewolf's body?"

Harry winced at the use of the word 'body'. "Ron? Why is he here?"

His Professor's eyes narrowed in anger, but he did answer the question. "When the Order returned to Headquarters, they found Mr. Weasley injured and you missing. Your friends said you had left to go wait at the Shrieking Shack. Very sentimental of you." Snape's sneer was out in full force. He continued. "I can't imagine your friends allowing you to do such a foolhardy thing, so what did you do? Are you the one who injured Mr. Weasley? Come here, Mr. Potter."

Harry took a deep breath and slowly pushed himself to a standing position. He took a dizzying step forward.

The Potions Master hissed out a breath. "Are you aware, Mr. Potter that you were sitting in a pool of blood?" He took a swift step forward and practically pushed Harry into the neighboring bed.

His actions suddenly stilled as a thought seemed to hit him. "Were you bitten by the werewolf, Mr. Potter?"

Harry couldn't believe the question. He gave a semi-hysterical burst of laughter. "I wasn't _bitten_. I _bit_."

Snape frowned. "You have become incoherent. You must be going into shock." He swept back across the room and rummaged in some cupboards. He came back carrying a potion. He thrust it under Harry's nose. "Blood replenishing potion. Drink up, Mr. Potter. Madam Pomfrey should return soon."

Harry grimaced and drank it. He set his glasses on the bedside table, closed his eyes and lay back on the bed. He ached all over. He wasn't sure how much of it was from the fight with Moony and how much was from his first transformation from Shadow straight to Flame. He suspected that probably hadn't been a good idea, but he wasn't really thinking clearly at the time.

He must have dozed off for a while because when he awoke, Snape was talking with Professor Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey was checking on Ron.

"Have they found anything out yet? What happened to him? How Lupin got up here? Where those animals came from or _what_ that one creature was?"

"No, nothing yet. It's too early yet to tell. I'm hoping for some answers this afternoon." Harry noticed the Headmaster glance Ron's way. He noticed Harry laying there. Harry quickly closed his eyes.

"Did Harry decide to rest here for a while instead of returning to Headquarters?" The Headmaster sounded curious.

"I'm afraid we may have another problem. Potter was bleeding. He was also slightly hysterical. I'm afraid Lupin may have bitten him sometime during the night."

The Headmaster straightened up immediately. "Poppy?" His voice was extremely tense. The nurse came over from where she had been tending to Ron.

"Headmaster, I'm afraid Mr. Weasley's fever is rising. I must have missed something. I shall have to do a more thorough scan."

"Poppy! That can wait. Please check Mr. Potter over. Mostly check for any bite marks that may have been caused by a werewolf."

Madam Pomfrey gave a horrified gasp and quickly moved towards Harry. "Wasn't bitten," Harry mumbled.

"Hush now, Mr. Potter. Let me do my job." The school nurse hovered her wand over Harry's body, running it up and down his length.

"As with Mr. Weasley, I am only finding deep scratches and some fever. He is also showing some signs of shock." The Headmaster gave a sigh of relief. Madam Pomfrey fetched a compress with a cooling charm on it for Harry's head. She placed a second on Ron's.

"'S Ron going t'be okay?"

"Mr. Weasley will be fine as soon as I find the cause of his fever. Do you have any ideas, Mr. Potter?"

Snape broke in with his snarl. "Guilty conscience, Mr. Potter?" Madam Pomfrey turned to glare at the Potions Master. "What? It seems obvious to me what happened. Mr. Potter decided he wouldn't stay where he was safe and instead wanted to sneak out and come to this school. His friends actually had a bit of wisdom for once and tried to stop him. Mr. Weasley and Mr. Potter fought. After damaging his friend, Mr. Potter took the Knight Bus to Hogwarts and made his way to the Shrieking Shack."

Harry couldn't even muster the energy to get angry over Snape's wrong assumptions. He tried to clear his mind. Something was wrong with Ron. Something had happened to Ron… "Ron's thigh. S…something stuck there."

Snape sneered. "Knife broke off?"

Madam Pomfrey hurried to Ron's bedside and scanned his upper thigh area more thoroughly. Harry heard her exclaim as she found where it was. "What in Merlin's name is this? Albus, I will need some help here. Severus, will you keep an eye on Harry for me?"

Sarcasm couldn't get much thicker as the Potions Master said, "Of course. I would _love_ to."

As Madam Pomfrey and the Headmaster levitated Ron to a different room, Snape leaned against another bed with his arms crossed in front of him, staring at Harry. "So how did the werewolf get to the Shack? You must have been awake for that. How did it happen?"

Harry closed his eyes. "'m tired. Gotta sleep." As he drifted off again, he could hear his professor muttering about "someday" and "Veritaserum".

When Harry came to again it was because Ron was being transferred back into the bed next to him. Professor Snape was asking questions again. "What type of knife did Potter use?"

"It wasn't a knife, Severus. It was this." Dumbledore held out a small silver object.

"A silver dart? Why would Potter shoot that at Weasley?"

"I don't believe Harry did. I believe that I was correct in what I said before. We may get many of our questions answered when they wake this afternoon. I have asked Minerva to gather their friends and bring them here as well."

Snape seemed shocked as he put the pieces together. "A silver dart in the thigh…a lion with a red mane…Weasley? What about that other creature; the dark creature?"

"That one is a little more mysterious, but we shall see. Poppy? Do you think we could check Mr. Potter for a similar object as well? Possibly entered from his lower back, right below his ribs?"

Snape kept quiet for once as Madam Pomfrey rolled Harry over and started sweeping his back with her wand. She sounded startled when she said, "How did you know, Albus? He has a foreign object that needs to come out, too."

"That…that…_thing_…was Potter?"

The Headmaster waved a hand in the air in a dismissive gesture. "All that will have to wait. Poppy, shall we go? I believe we have some more work to do."

Madam Pomfrey forced a vial to Harry's lips and caused him to drink some. After a few swallows, Harry knew no more.

* * *

"Afternoon, mate," Harry blinked a few times as things were starting to register. He was lying on his stomach in the Hospital Wing. He ached all over, but was especially sore in his back. He started to reach for his glasses. Before he got very far, they were put in his hand. 

"Morning, sleepyhead," Ginny smiled down at him. Hermione was also there. Ron was sitting up in his bed. Harry rolled to his back and grimaced as he tried to sit up. Ginny frowned and reached over to help him. "How are you, Harry?"

"A bit sore, but I'll be fine." Memories started crashing back down on him. He looked frantically around.

Hermione came forward and grabbed his shoulders forcing him back against the pillows. "Harry. Harry! What's wrong?"

Harry clutched at Hermione. "Have you heard anything? Anything about R…Remus?"

Hermione was shaking her head. "No. Only that he was taken to St. Mungo's. Why?"

Harry's eyes fell to his hands that were now twisting the sheets of his bed. His voice was quiet and shaky as he stated, "I bit him, Hermione."

Hermione's eyes were compassionate. "I know, Harry. But you had to. At least he's at St. Mungo's now and they'll be able to revive him. Things will be fine…"

Harry was emphatically shaking his head. "You don't understand. I bit him _three times_!"

Hermione raised her hand to her mouth in shock. She instantly knew, more than the others what that would mean. Tears started running down her face. Ron and Ginny looked at her in confusion.

Hermione slowly backed to Ron's bed and sat down, blindly reaching out for Ron's hand. She quietly explained to them, "More than one bite could be fatal. Three…"

Harry started to babble. "He just wouldn't go down. The first time had very little effect on him. I had to bite him again. Even after that he still kept going. I could tell that the wolf would never give up. Not until he was dead. After it was done, I could smell it on him. Death. He was so close to it. I didn't want him dying there." Ginny had her arms around Harry and she was rocking him back and forth.

"Remus is not dead," A voice broke through the shared grief of the friends. Harry looked up, startled to see his professors standing there. Professor Dumbledore continued. "He is in a serious condition, but he is expected to recover. Unfortunately the Healers are baffled by what happened to him. I was hoping you could now explain last night's events from your point of view?" The Professor looked to each of them in turn.

Harry turned to his friends. "Oh, yeah. They figured it out."

Hermione seemed nervous, Ginny kept her face blank, but Ron seemed indignant. "How?"

Of course, it had to be Professor Snape who replied with his sarcasm. "How difficult would it be, Mr. Weasley, when creatures are struck with darts and then you and Mr. Potter show up with wounds matching those of the creatures with darts still imbedded?"

Ron blushed and looked down.

Professor Dumbledore broke in. "What matters now is helping the Healers all we can. To do this, we must know everything about what happened last night. I understand that you each became illegal animagi? Why?"

Harry looked at his old Professor. "I found an old journal of my dad's last year. As I'm such a frequent target, I decided that it might be a good idea to get a few surprises to keep up my sleeve." He heard Snape click his tongue in annoyance, but ignored him. "We managed to change into our forms this past year, but at the confrontation on Valentine's Day I couldn't use my form." He got some curious looks from his Professors. "Burning day." More curious looks.

Professor McGonagall asked, "That creature burns?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Not that one. The phoenix form."

McGonagall weakly sat down on a nearby bed. "You have more than one form? But that's impossible! No one has more than one form."

Harry shrugged. "The best I can figure is that it was another 'gift' from Voldemort when he gave me the scar. I wasn't too anxious to use that second form until I realized I couldn't always access the phoenix."

McGonagall flinched from the name but tried to get back on track. "So you have two forms. What is that second form?"

Harry just looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know."

Snape couldn't hold back any longer. "You don't know? You turned yourself into a creature that you didn't know what it was or what it could do?"

Harry just shrugged again. Snape let out a frustrated snort. "Imbecilic child."

Hermione broke in. "We figure it's some sort of cross between a wolf, thestral and snake. It has the form of a wolf, the skin, eyes and wings of a thestral and fangs like a cobra." Harry winced at the fangs.

"When you are feeling better, I must insist you show me your forms. All of you." McGonagall started talking to Harry, but then included the others as well. They all reluctantly nodded.

Professor Dumbledore prodded Harry to continue with his story. "So what happened last night?"

Harry bit his lip. "I couldn't just stay to wait for news about Remus being killed in some street. I thought maybe I could get him away from everyone. I flashed us over to a side alley…"

"Flashed?"

"Transported as a phoenix. You know, with the fire thing."

"Oh, go on."

"Then we went searching for him. Eventually he showed up and we tried to keep him away from everyone. But he wouldn't…wouldn't…" Harry couldn't continue.

Professor Dumbledore rested a hand on his shoulder. "I believe we heard this part. How did you and Remus disappear?"

"I changed to the phoenix and flashed him to the Shrieking Shack." He just seemed to realize he didn't know what had happened to his friends. "Sorry I left you guys. What did you do?"

Ginny answered him. "We made it out of Diagon Alley and changed back. Hermione had fare for a taxi that we took back to Headquarters. We patched Ron up a bit, but eventually Professor Dumbledore came and had Ron come here. We told him you had gone to the Shrieking Shack."

The Headmaster tried to get them back on track. "Speaking of the Shrieking Shack, did anything happen while you were there, Harry? Anything at all? We could find no bite marks on Remus."

Harry started breathing a little heavier, remembering his feelings as Remus lay dying before him. "I knew he was almost dead. I cried." Harry felt a little uncomfortable talking about it, but the Headmaster seemed to understand.

"Healing tears?" Harry just nodded. The Headmaster leaned back with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Snape looked confused. "Headmaster?"

Professor Dumbledore lightly clapped his hands together and formed a steeple which he lightly tapped his chin with. He directed his reply to both Harry and the Potions Professor. "As I said before, Remus is recovering. What is baffling the Healers is that while they can find a slight trace of some venom in his blood, it seems to have been neutralized. Their main concern stems from the fact they no longer can find any trace of his lycanthropy. Remus has been treated there before and his medical history goes back to when he was a small child. There never has been a case where someone with lycanthropy suddenly is cured." The Headmaster smiled as he could tell his audience was still confused. "I'm just wondering what effect Harry's venom combined with his tears had on Remus."

Snape's eyes widened as he moved his head to stare at Harry.

* * *

The Headmaster's words made quite a stir. Hermione's eyes instantly lit with enthusiasm. With a quick, "I'll get Neville," Hermione dashed out of the wing. Snape definitely looked puzzled as to what Neville Longbottom had to do with anything. 

Harry turned to the Headmaster. "Has Remus woken up yet?"

The Headmaster frowned. "Not yet, but the staff at St. Mungo's assure me that he should." Harry visibly deflated. "What is wrong, Harry?"

Harry miserably shook his head. "It sounds strange, but I could smell that some part of Remus had died before I brought him to the Shrieking Shack. Until he wakes up…I just can't believe."

The Headmaster closed his eyes and inclined his head. "I understand. I will keep in contact with St. Mungo's and let you know the moment I hear anything."

Hermione came in at that moment dragging Neville behind her. Neville was carrying a box. "Here's the rest of the venom. We had only needed a few of the samples we had taken for the tests we had run but we saved the rest in case we thought of something else. Do you think it would help if we sent it to St. Mungo's?"

Neville was looking nervously from the Headmaster to his Head of House. Suddenly Snape swooped up behind him, startling Neville. "So Longbottom is an accessory in this little illegal animagi conspiracy?" His tone was accusatory and coming unexpectedly like that rattled Neville's composure.

The box in Neville's hands slipped a bit, but he managed to hang on to it. Harry silently cursed Snape for trying to intimidate Neville like that again. He gave a look to Hermione and spoke to Snape. "Neville was the one who knew how to test the venom so we could see what it could do. Professor Sprout has a lot of trust in his capabilities."

Hermione caught on. "He did a terrific job. He let me watch him work. We have the documentation of his findings in this box as well as the remaining samples."

Neville flushed a little but stood up straighter. One thing Neville was confident in was Herbology. His testing of plants had been praised by Professor Sprout over and over. Harry gave him a proud smile.

Professor Snape gave a look of scorn and rudely grabbed the box from Neville. He set it on the foot of Harry's bed and started to go through it. His eyes passed over the fifteen capped vials and he lifted the parchment with Neville's findings. His eyes narrowed as they scanned over the parchment. He scanned it lightly at first, then again with more concentration. One eyebrow raised. He looked over to Neville with a focused expression on his face.

"Longbottom, you say here that the substance is of the neurotoxic variety? What is the speed of the polypeptides and phospholipases?"

Neville looked startled at the question. "It's totally effective within thirty seconds. Sometimes less." He started to get a little excited about his findings. "What's amazing though, is it binds instantly to the Vagus cells of the cranial nerve, but not to the others. It causes a temporary paralysis and slows the heart rate down. The victim will black out for about thirty minutes. Additional amounts increase the paralysis and can cause death."

It was a surreal sight. Neville and Professor Snape were talking back and forth as equals. It was obvious that Snape was really listening to what Neville was saying. Harry just wished they wouldn't talk about it in front of him. He didn't want to think about what more than one bite could do when he'd bitten Remus three times.

Harry lost himself in his dark thoughts. Slowly it dawned on him that the room was silent and everyone seemed to be looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Sorry?"

The Headmaster gave a slight smile. "We were just wondering if, when you are feeling up to it, you would be willing to provide more samples for testing. St. Mungo's would be very interested in these, but they do have quite a backlog of work and it may be some time before they can experiment with it. Professor Snape could take some time to start an independent research if you are willing."

Harry looked at the silent Professor. His face was totally impassive. It was impossible to know what he was thinking. "Yeah, no problem."

The Headmaster gave a pleased smile. "Well then, I believe we should leave you to your rest."

Poppy Pomfrey took that as her cue to start shooing everyone out of the Hospital Wing. The only one left was Ron in the next bed. Harry looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Was it my imagination or were Neville and Professor Snape actually talking to each other like normal people?"

Ron looked rather bemused as well. "More like Hermione than normal people, but I know what you mean." Ron shook his head. "It either happened or you have a very strong imagination, 'cause I saw it, too."

* * *

Ron was released in time for dinner, which he was eternally grateful for, but Harry was required to stay overnight. He had lost more blood due to not having received medical attention right away and he still had some stiffness from the transformation. The next morning Harry had his final check up and received permission to leave the Hospital Wing when Professor Dumbledore came in. 

"I have good news, Harry," he started. "I have heard from St. Mungo's and Remus has awoken." At Harry's hopeful look, he continued. "He is coherent, but will not be allowed visitors until later in the day. I will make arrangements for you to see him this evening."

Harry gave a relieved smile. "Thank you, sir, I would like that."

Dumbledore smiled and said, "Now I believe your friends are waiting for you in the Great Hall. Hurry along and you may be able to enjoy some breakfast with them."

Harry nodded. He hurriedly got dressed after the Headmaster left, thanked Madam Pomfrey and quickly made his way to the Great Hall.

Harry found his friends at the Gryffindor table. They greeted him happily when they saw him. Ginny gave him a kiss on the cheek. Harry sat down and began to pile his plate full. He gave a brief look around. About half the students were still at Hogwarts. The Easter Holidays weren't as long as the Christmas ones and many of the students just stayed instead of putting themselves through the long trip home and back.

Harry was almost finished with his meal when he was approached by Professor Snape. He was handed a note. He was to meet him in the potions classroom after breakfast.

Harry made his way down to the classroom. There were several collecting jars on a table. The potions master was already there.

"Potter, I need you to fill as many jars as you are able. Do you have any confirmation of how long one dose lasts?"

Harry shook his head. "The only time I used it, beside the other night, I didn't stick around until they woke."

The potions master frowned in confusion for a moment until realization dawned in his dark eyes. "Lucius' mysterious beast. He was telling the truth." Harry shifted uncomfortably. The dark man continued, "Then a phoenix was sighted. The Dark Lord assumed it to be the Headmaster's. He added wards to prevent magical creature transportation. The house elves were displeased, not that that matters."

"He's got house elves?" Harry felt sick for the poor creatures. He supposed those new wards were the reason he couldn't get to Remus.

"Of course. Especially since Pettigrew's death. They never last for long. Replacements are supplied by the Dark Lord's followers." The man seemed to recollect himself and snapped, "Well, enough chatter. Are you going to just stand around all day wasting my time?"

Harry rolled his eyes. The man just couldn't stop being a git for long. Harry transformed with barely a thought. Harry heard an expletive come from Snape's direction. Shadow took a step towards the table and the Professor. He paused. He could smell the fear coming from the tall man in front of him. He supposed Snape had plenty of reason to dislike the wolf shape given his history with Moony. Snape was very tense and had one hand on his wand.

Shadow sat down calmly. Snape lowered his hand from his wand, but was still wary. Harry transformed back. He was sitting on the floor. "Professor, you know, I can do this alone. You don't have to help me. Why don't we set the containers on the floor and I'll try to fill them myself?" Harry hoped some distance would settle the man down. He wanted to reassure the man that he was in no danger, but wasn't sure his reassurances would be appreciated. "It's still me, professor. Just a different look." Harry gave a lopsided grin. "You never did like how I looked anyway."

Harry almost thought it looked like the professor was going to roll his eyes at Harry's last comment, but he just muttered, "If you insist, Potter," and started putting the containers on the stone floor. Harry got up and helped him. When they were all on the floor the professor straightened up. His eyes were guarded, but he seemed more relaxed. Harry imagined he would be feeling a little uncomfortable with how he had reacted in front of a student, Harry no less, but was willing to take Harry's offer of space between them.

Harry sat on the floor in front of the containers until the Potions Master was settled some distance away. Harry transformed again into Shadow. He heard a sharp intake of breath across the room and could almost feel the tension, but no action was taken.

He looked down at the containers. It had been much easier when Neville had been willing to hold the jars to Shadows fangs. Harry would have to figure out how to hold the containers steady with his paws and bite down on the top without upsetting the whole thing. The first couple of tries didn't work. The jars tipped over or skidded across the room when too much pressure was applied. He gave a huff of annoyance which he thought he heard echoed from Snape. Finally he had success. He nosed a jar against the leg of a table and trapped it with his paws. Then he could gently bite down on the top and eject some venom. He briefly wondered if Fred and George would be interested in testing this venom for their inventions.

Removing the jar from his fangs wasn't easy either. If he lifted his head up without a good hold on the jar, it stuck to his teeth. He was quite proud when he had finally completed one container. Only another twenty-two or so to go. That thought brought him back down with a thump. He shook his head, gently pushed the completed jar aside with his nose and cornered another one.

He could feel Snape approaching slowly as he worked on his seventh jar. Snape started picking up the jars that had gone skidding across the floor. His eyes were intent on Harry's form, analyzing it. Harry didn't mind that so much. When people got to the analyzing stage it usually meant that the fear would soon be gone.

By the twelfth jar, Snape was comfortable enough to be right next to Shadow. He picked up the completed containers and placed them on top of the table. The sound of faint footsteps approaching startled Harry. Shadows ears pricked up and he looked intently at the door. Snape noticed this behavior and took out his wand. Harry suddenly lurched to his feet and dashed into the shadows under the table. Snape was startled by the sudden movement and raised his wand, ready to send a curse. The door abruptly opened and Draco Malfoy stepped into the room. Snape whirled to face the door.

"Professor Snape, I wondered if you'd be in here. I needed to ask you a question. If powdered hellebore is added to a swelling solution…"

"Mr. Malfoy! Now is not the time for questions. I will be available in one hour in my office. You may see me at that time. You will also knock in the future!"

Harry finally was able to remove the jar that was stuck on his fangs. It clanked quietly on the stone as it tipped over. Draco gave a quick glance towards the sound.

Draco looked rather put out at being yelled at. It obviously wasn't something he was used to. He looked around and his eyes fell on the containers on the table. "What's in those?"

"A venom I was collecting."

"Where's the snake?"

Snape glared his patented glare at Draco and his voice became smooth condescension. "Now that would be the question, wouldn't it? That is why you should never just walk into this room without knocking first."

Draco's eyes widened. They started darting around the room looking for some snake he believed was loose. Harry stifled a chuckle.

"Is it poisonous?"

Snape did actually roll his eyes at this. "To my knowledge that is what venom is defined as. Now if you would take your leave, I could continue with what I was doing. I will see you in one hour."

Snape turned his back on Draco and Harry saw Draco start to leave. Draco's eyes flicked back to where he had heard the noise. He noticed the jar lying under the desk where Harry was and his eyes suddenly narrowed with calculation. He cast a quick glance back at his potions teacher and then quickly bent to retrieve the lost jar. Harry had the feeling Draco had plans of his own if he could get one of the jars. As Draco's fingers were about to close over the jar, Harry breathed on his hand. Draco jumped back at the sensation, falling to the floor and started to peer frantically into the darkness.

At the noise, Snape turned back to the fallen wizard. "Mr. Malfoy…."

Draco scrambled up. "I'm going," and he hurried out of the classroom door, slamming it behind him.

Snape cast a locking and silencing charm on the door. He turned back to the table Harry was under. He cautiously peered into the darkness. "Potter?"

Shadow slowly moved into the light. Snape's eyes widened and he looked briefly startled. Harry changed back. He stretched. "He was trying to get the jar under the table. He probably thinks the snake is under there."

"Why couldn't I see you?"

"We're assuming it has something to do with Thestrals. Thestrals have properties of invisibility. People who haven't seen death can't see them. Shadow seems to have invisible properties as well, but only when I'm in shadows. In the light I'm visible to everyone."

Harry heard his professor mumble something that sounded like, "As if an invisibility cloak isn't enough…." The professor drummed his fingers on the table. Finally he nodded. "That explains some things." At Harry's look of surprise he continued, "The other night it was dusk. The lighting was inadequate in that area. The torches and full moon threw some light, but mostly shadows. We could see Weasley clearly, but the other one…you…seemed to keep disappearing. I believe the auror that shot you with the dart hadn't been aiming for you. I don't believe he saw you until after you were hit. He'd only seen the werewolf."

"Oh," Harry thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged. "They probably would have shot me anyway if they could see me. Shadow's not the friendliest looking creature. Even I admit that. I think a lot of it is the eyes. They bother people." Snape made a noise of some sort. Harry couldn't tell if it was of agreement or aggravation. He decided he'd better get back to work. He looked at the remaining containers and sighed. "Oh, well, back to work."

Harry stepped back and transformed again. He started nosing the next jar into place. Snape made a click of annoyance. "We'll be here all morning at this pace. Here, Potter," Snape lifted the jar and held it in front of Harry. Harry looked at him a moment. His professor seemed to be over his fear of him. He was cautious, but not fearful. Harry slowly approached and carefully bit into the top. When finished, Snape pulled it away from him and offered another. They were able to finish the rest of the jars quickly after that. In all, twenty-two jars were filled this time.

* * *

About an hour before lunch, Harry and his friends made their way to the transfiguration classroom. They were being called to display their animagi forms. Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall were there with the addition of Hagrid. Harry gave him a small grin and Hagrid acknowledged it with a nod of his own, his beetle black eyes smiling back at him. Professor McGonagall was frowning in disapproval. The Headmaster just serenely bid them enter. 

The room had been cleared of desks except for four empty ones facing the chairs the professors were using. There was a large platform that Harry guessed was a scale of some sort in one area. The students nervously found their seats in the desks. Professor McGonagall stood up.

She looked down at the students seated in front of her and frowned. "I must say that I am very disappointed that you went about doing something like this on your own. You, Miss Granger especially should know of the risks involved in trying something of this magnitude without supervision. There have been cases in the past where things have gone horribly wrong. Partial transformations are not a pretty sight and if help is not summoned promptly, there can be grave results." She started pacing back and forth. "I suppose this is all water under the bridge now, but I cannot impress upon you enough that chances like this should not be taken again."

She stopped her pacing and fixed each of them with a death glare. Each student quickly agreed.

"Now how many years ago did you start working on this and where did you get the information to do so?" Professor McGonagall retook her seat.

The students looked at each other. Harry cleared his throat. "As I said before, I found my dad's journal last summer…."

McGonagall interrupted him. "Are you telling me that you only started thinking about this six months before you transformed?" Harry nodded. McGonagall closed her eyes. "Four _students_ suddenly decide to become animagi and achieve it in six months? How?"

"Well, we had some help….There were books in both the Potter library and the Black library and those, with the journal explaining things in simpler language, gave us the basics." Harry looked over at Ginny and Ron. Ron was frowning and biting his lip.

Ron suddenly spoke up. "Do you know about the trunk I gave Harry?"

Professor McGonagall looked a little confused at the change of subject. "I heard you gave him one for his birthday."

Albus Dumbledore cleared his throat. "It is a dimensional truck which matches Miss Weasley's." She obviously realized what it was, but still had no idea what it had to do with this subject. She turned to Harry.

"So that is why you wanted me to give your wand to Miss Weasley and have her put it in her trunk. You would be able to access it?"

Harry nodded and Ron continued, "Well, I reckon you probably don't know that the trunks belonged to my uncles. They put their portraits inside the trunk. They helped us get the spells down that we needed to learn and helped us learn wandless magic. Then, after Harry discovered that wandless magic isn't tracked outside of the trunk, we could practice as much as we wanted."

Professor McGonagall covered her eyes with her hand. "I don't want to be hearing this."

Ginny threw in, "The law that says magic can't be used outside of school is a stupid one anyway."

"Miss Weasley! That is not the point. The point is you shouldn't have done it in the first place!"

"I disagree, Professor," Harry said. "If we hadn't, I would never have made it out of St. Mungo's and they might not have escaped on Valentine's Day. I don't regret it at all."

Professor Dumbledore interrupted at this point. "I believe we have digressed from the topic at hand. The 'should have's' are past. Let us focus on what to do now."

Professor McGonagall took a breath and calmed down. She started again more calmly. "The proper thing to do would be to register you with the Improper Use of Magic Office. They would need a record of what animal you are and what markings you have." The children all looked at her with mutinous faces. "But we do agree, the Headmaster and I, that it can wait until after this war is over." At their relieved looks, she continued, "However, we do want to have the paperwork filled out just in case. We will keep it here at Hogwarts. We will need to document your animals and markings." She looked at them sternly. "I hope you realize that we are going out on a limb for you. You are not to abuse the power of these forms."

Harry briefly thought of all the times he'd used his forms; leaving St. Mungo's with Fudge, breaking Remus and the other werewolves out of jail, biting the Death Eater's and escaping with the Dursleys, Diagon Alley…. He looked up and tentatively asked, "Abuse…?"

The Headmaster smiled at him. "I believe the definition of abuse is 'to use wrongly or improperly'. I don't believe anything you have done to date qualifies under that definition. I believe you have pretty good instincts on when and where this talent should be used. We are trusting you," his look encompassed all of them, "all of you, to use these talents only in extreme emergencies. You are correct that it could be a powerful tool to have at your disposal should something unfortunate happen. I would recommend you keep a low profile and let as few people know about it as possible."

When the students all nodded, Professor McGonagall took over again. She pulled a clipboard with some forms off from her desk and took a quill in hand. "We'll start ladies first. Miss Weasley, I would like you to transform so I can record your form and markings and then I'll have a few questions about your abilities while in the form. Hagrid will be helping with the measurements." Ginny stepped forward to the cleared section and transformed. McGonagall first drew a brief sketch and carefully recorded the details of Ginny's form. Hagrid measured her weight on a scale. He measured the spread of her wings and even had her fly a few laps around the room. Finally they called her down and had Ginny transform back. McGonagall asked her questions like if she knew how fast she could fly, could she communicate, or how her eyesight was. Ginny answered as best she could. McGonagall was intrigued with the idea of cross-species communication. There were so few recorded animagi that they rarely came into contact with each other. She had Ginny send her an image while she was in her cat form.

Next was Hermione's turn to become Spots. All the same procedures and questions happened along with a thorough examination of the claws and teeth. Then Ron had his turn as Leo. McGonagall was quite impressed with the two cats. She turned herself into her form and was able to communicate with each of them easily in a feline language.

Then it was Harry's turn. He started with Flame. He was duly measured and his markings recorded. He could tell the Professors were amused at his messy crest and twisted 'lightning bolt' feathers. They had him sing, flash, fly, but Harry couldn't cry. When he turned back he apologized. "I just can't do that on demand."

McGonagall nodded. "Understandable, Mr. Potter. We do know that the tears do have healing properties so I will record it as an attribute."

She was rather surprised when Harry said he could understand Fawkes, even when he wasn't in his form. Dumbledore just had a pleased smile on his face. Harry just knew he had suspected that from earlier before the Christmas dinner.

Finally Flame's review was over. McGonagall got a clean form in front of her and looked to Harry again. "I don't believe anyone had a clear view of your other form. Would you mind changing into it now?"

Hagrid had quite enjoyed the different transformations taking place, but it was clear that he was anxious to see Shadow. From what he'd heard, he was by far the most interesting of the creatures.

Harry was still reluctant to turn into that form in front of other people, but took a deep breath and did so.

McGonagall inhaled sharply and recoiled back. Dumbledore peered curiously over his half-moon glasses. Hagrid went into raptures.

"Wha' a beauty. Ah, Harry, Tha's incredible. Yer magnificent!" Hagrid looked up at the others. McGonagall was still frozen in place. He turned to Ron, Hermione and Ginny. "Wha' all can he do?"

That seemed to unfreeze McGonagall. She started moving her quill to the parchment, but then stopped, seemingly puzzled. "Albus, what do I put for 'type of animal'?"

The Headmaster just smiled benignly at her. "Just leave it blank for now, Minerva,"

Ron started answering Hagrid's question. "He can fly wicked fast,"

Hermione added, "His venom can incapacitate a wizard for half an hour,"

Ginny then said, "He can't be seen in the shadows,"

With each answer Hagrid's smile grew wider and wider. "Whadda form! I'm that impressed, I am. Well, let's get yeh on the scale." Hagrid started with the weighing and measuring. He kept running his huge hands over the leathery skin on Harry's back and muttering to himself about "Wha' a beauty he was". Hagrid's reaction wasn't quite what Harry had experienced from any others, but he supposed he should have expected it from his large friend. Hagrid always did appreciate the more unusual creatures. Unusual meaning dangerous.

Hagrid had Harry extend his large, bat-like wings and gently traced each fragile, but strong bone which lined them. His fangs were examined closely as well. He felt the ridge of scar tissue that couldn't be seen. Then they tested Harry's invisibility by extinguishing all but one torch that lit the room. When Harry stepped into the shadows Hagrid was like a giddy schoolgirl when he could feel Harry's form but couldn't see him. McGonagall and Dumbledore also were quite intrigued with this phenomena. McGonagall had quickly gotten over her reserve. Harry guessed it would be hard not to when Hagrid was so enthusiastic.

When McGonagall said Harry could turn back, he was relieved, even though Hagrid was visibly disappointed. Harry would almost bet Hagrid would have liked Harry to stay with him as a pet for a while if he could.

The professors discussed what type of animal Shadow may have been. They decided they would need to do some research, but most likely he was one that had become extinct and may have been lost to time.

The students were dismissed. Dumbledore told Harry that he should come to his office at 6 p.m. He would be escorting him to St. Mungo's to see Remus.

* * *

Harry was at the Headmaster's office shortly before six. Harry greeted Dumbledore and Fawkes. Dumbledore looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. "Harry, since I know you don't care for Portkeys and the floo network isn't safe, we really have two options. The first option would be letting me double apparate us to St. Mungo's," Harry didn't think that sounded too bad. The Headmaster continued, the twinkle in his eye growing by the minute, "or you could…what did you call it?...flash…us to St. Mungo's as Fawkes would." 

"But, Professor, you just said I shouldn't be seen. What about the 'low profile'?"

The Headmaster was smiling widely behind his long beard. "I believe that you have mostly been taken for Fawkes in the past. I am quite sure the assumption would be made again, especially if you were seen with me."

Harry blinked. "Well, I reckon it's a lot faster than walking off the grounds to apparate." He turned to Fawkes. "What do you think, Fawkes?"

Fawkes puffed his feathers out a bit. /Go ahead, Fledgling. Just be careful with my chick/

Harry gave an amused grin. "Well, Fawkes gives his permission." Harry transformed to Flame.

Dumbledore looked at him. "Harry, do you remember where the receiving area is in the entrance? That is where we need to go."

Harry nodded and offered a tail feather. The Headmaster grabbed it and they disappeared.

They appeared in the busy receiving area near the Welcome Witch. Dumbledore approached her with Flame perched on his shoulder. He waited for the witch to look up at him.

The bored looking witch finally looked to see who it was that was next and obviously recognized Dumbledore. She ran her finger down a list and intoned, "First floor patient?" At Dumbledore's nod, she continued, "Fourth door on the left. Visits are restricted to half an hour."

Dumbledore gave a nod of acknowledgement and said, "I also have the samples for that patient."

"I will let them know and someone will be by to pick them up." She then fell back into her routine.

Dumbledore strode through the double doors and along the narrow corridor beyond. He climbed a flight of stairs and entered the "Creature-Induced Injuries" corridor. The fourth door on the left led into a private room. He explained quietly to the bird on his shoulder that Remus' identity was being kept quiet. The newspapers didn't know which werewolf it was in Diagon Alley and if his name was released, it wouldn't matter that he wasn't there by his own choice, crowds would mob. The story released in the papers was that Aurors had arrived and Silver Darts had been used.

The Headmaster stepped into the room briefly to verify that it was indeed the correct one. Flame's eyes were riveted to the figure in the bed. "Harry? I'll leave you and Remus alone for a while. I do have some others to check on." He pulled a box out of an obviously charmed pocket. It was the box Neville had brought to the infirmary. "I will leave this here with you."

Harry flew off his shoulder and he barely noticed his professor leaving. He changed back to himself and slowly approached the bed. Remus looked so pale and still. He couldn't get his memory of the smell of death he'd had from his mind. He decided to transform to Shadow and see what he could smell now.

Shadow's sense of smell was much better than Harry's. Harry approached mostly silently on four paws, only the faint clicking of his toenails making any sound on the hard floor. Moony's smell was different. Harry tried to place what was different about it. He gently put his front paws on the bed and sniffed. He could still smell the musky scent of a wolf, but it was different, not as strong. Not as feral.

Harry was intrigued by what it could mean and didn't pay as close attention as he should to Remus' waking movements. Remus opened his eyes and saw Shadow partially on his bed. His eyes widened at the perceived threat and with a small pop, he transformed into a wolf. He instinctively bared his teeth at Harry, but it was obvious, though, that he didn't have the energy to fight.

Shadow quickly backed off the bed. "_I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I just needed to know what had changed. I needed to know I didn't hurt you permanently."_

"_Harry_?" The wolf on the bed's eyes widened in surprise. Harry lowered his head and lay submissively on the floor with his head on his paws. "_Is that you, Harry_?" The posture was a giveaway that the black creature on the floor meant no harm and would not challenge the wolf on the bed.

The skeletal form on the floor looked up at him. "_Hi, Moony_," His tail gave a brief thump.

"_What happened to you?"_ He finally seemed to notice that he, himself, was not exactly normal. "_What happened to ME?"_ Panic was beginning to rise in his voice. He looked around the room frantically. "_I've transformed! It's not safe! Somehow we've got to keep people out of here!_" He started mumbling in Harry's mind about a whole hospital full of patients being in danger. Harry just looked at him.

"_You've transformed, but I don't think you're a werewolf. You look a bit different, you smell differently, too_." Harry searched around the room. He spotted a mirror on a stand across the room. He turned back to himself. The wolf on the bed watched him with cautious eyes. Harry retrieved the mirror and brought it to the bed. He held it in front of Moony.

"See, your snout has changed. Eyes, too. The pupils used to be slitted. Now they're circular." The wolf started to struggle to get out from under the blankets of the bed. Harry helped untangle him. Moony started looking at his tail and paws, searching the other differences of werewolves versus regular wolves. His tail gave a thump.

Harry tilted his head to one side. "I bet you're an animagus now. Probably seeing a wolf form startled you when you woke and you changed to a more defensible form. Sorry 'bout that, by the way. Just close your eyes and think about being human again."

The wolf did that and Remus reappeared. He gave Harry a tired smile and opened his arms. Harry ran into them. They closed around him in a tight hug and Harry hugged him back. Remus' heart was still pounding furiously. "Well, that was one way to wake up," he said with a laugh.

"I'm sorry." Harry buried his head in the older man's chest.

"Don't be," Remus started to struggle to sit up. Harry helped him and arranged pillows behind him. Remus patted the bed next to him and Harry sat. He was glad for the close, reassuring contact.

"They've said my lycanthropy was gone somehow, but I didn't dare believe them. Maybe it's true, but I don't understand how it could be possible. That's never happened before." Harry looked away. He started playing with the edge of a pillowcase. "Harry?"

Harry reluctantly glanced back at Remus who was watching his movements curiously. Harry gave a sigh. "Professor Dumbledore thinks it may have something to do with what I did." At Remus' confused look, he continued. "What do you know about what happened?"

"Nothing much. I remember them placing a Portkey necklace around my neck. I tried to resist, but I was restrained. I couldn't stop them." Remus' eyes darkened at the memory. "I didn't know where they were sending me. Then nothing more as the transformation started."

Harry swallowed. "They sent you to Diagon Alley." Remus grew very still. He knew how crowded that could be.

"Did I…?"

"No. You were … stopped…" Harry choked at that word. The memory of a dying Remus clear in his mind. "…before you got near anyone."

Remus' eyes closed in relief. Then they opened wide as a thought hit him. "You were there?"

Harry felt tears growing behind his eyes. Words started pouring out of his mouth. "They were all practicing the Silver Dart spell. I just thought, maybe, I could do something as Shadow." Remus' eyes grew curious, but he didn't interrupt. "We flashed to the Alley and found you just as you arrived. Ron and I tackled you. He's a lion, by the way. And Hermione and Ginny kept the others back. Then Ron got hit with a Silver Dart and it was just me and you. Then I was hit and I knew I couldn't hold you." Harry paused. Tears starting to slide down his face. "I bit you." Harry took a ragged breath, then started speaking faster, almost pleading with Remus to understand. "Usually one bite would knock someone out, but you wouldn't go down. I ended up biting you three times. Hermione had said no one could survive that." Remus now had his arms around the distraught teen, rocking him back and forth, trying to comfort him. "Finally you stopped struggling. You transformed back in the street." Harry's voice grew quiet. "I could smell that you were dying. That something had died."

Harry stopped to try to pull himself together. He straightened up a bit then continued his story in a determined voice. "I didn't want you to die in some street. I brought you to the Shrieking Shack as Flame. I healed the bite marks with phoenix tears. In the morning Professor Dumbledore came and got you. They took you away from me." The last sentence showed how much it hurt Harry when it happened. Remus gave his shoulders a squeeze.

"Harry, you know I would rather be stopped, or killed, than attack someone while a werewolf."

Harry shuddered. "I know that. But I thought that _I'd_ killed you."

"It wouldn't have been your fault."

"They took you because of me."

"It still is not your fault. It's their fault. Don't ever blame yourself for evil things they do because they are trying to hurt you."

Harry nodded his head silently. He knew what he said made sense, but it was still hard to feel in his heart. For now, though, he was content to lean against Moony's shoulder. After a long moment, Harry quietly stated, "I don't know how much more I can take. After Sirius died, Professor Dumbledore sent me back to his office." Harry's lip quirked up at the side. "I trashed it. He never even tried to stop me. He just sat there telling me he knew what I was feeling. That feeling pain like that was what made me human." Harry glanced up at Remus and quickly looked back down. "It may be what makes me human, but it's an awful feeling. It tears at your soul." Harry's voice quieted to just above a whisper. "It was tearing the other night. I just don't know if I could survive it again."

Remus didn't know what to say so he just held him.

Harry continued. "Dumbledore says that Voldemort doesn't have any feelings like that. He said that those feelings are 'my greatest strength'. How can something that almost destroyed me be my greatest strength?"

"Harry, I've seen you do some amazing things. There are not many 12-year-olds who could survive fighting a basilisk. I know of no other 13-year-olds who could drive off one hundred Dementors. The power level needed to free the Black house was incredible. You did it wandlessly. To save Ginny, to save Sirius and to save Winky, you've done the impossible. The same feelings that almost destroyed you are what empowered you to do those and many other amazing things. You have one of the most open hearts I have ever seen."

Harry looked at Remus curiously. "Do you know much of what's in the Department of Mysteries?"

Remus looked guarded. "I know some."

"Dumbledore said that the locked room was where they studied these feelings or 'force'. He said it was 'more wonderful and more terrible than death or human intelligence or forces of nature'. What do you know about that room?"

Remus looked thoughtful. "I don't know much. I have no idea how they capture what they study; time, space, intelligence, death, or love. All I know is that no one can enter that particular room. No one has yet been able to handle the feelings evoked. A few have tried, but they don't come out the same. Sensory overload or something. All testing is done remotely with spells I believe."

Harry gave another nod. They sat in silence for another minute.

Remus held him for a while, then started a new conversation, obviously trying to lighten the atmosphere. "So tell me about Shadow."

Harry smiled and relayed what he knew. He told of the different reactions from the teachers. Remus laughed about Hagrid's overboard reaction. "I probably could have predicted that, after having seen Shadow."

There was a brief knock on the door. Justina Bosworth stepped in. "I'm here to pick up a sample from Professor Dumbledore." She blinked when she saw Harry sitting on the bed with Remus. "Oh, hi, Harry! Good to see you again." Her eyes flicked around the room. "Professor Dumbledore not here?"

"He had to see to some other people. The box you need is on the table over there." Harry pointed to the box. "Neville has some notes he took on the samples inside. Maybe they can help."

Justina smiled. "I'm sure they will. Will you tell him that the amphibian venom we were researching has finally passed the testing stage? We're about to start dispensing it to some of our long-term care patients. I just know that it's going to help their recovery. I can feel it in my bones. And now with this possibility…. This is such an exciting time to be in research!"

Harry grinned at her enthusiasm. "I'll let him know."

Justina took the box and left the room. The door had barely closed behind her when Professor Dumbledore re-entered. "Harry? Remus? I trust you've had a nice visit? I am told we will shortly need to leave. I am please that you seem to be doing so well, Remus."

Dumbledore sat in the chair alongside the bed for a few minutes, chatting with Harry and Remus. Eventually he told Harry it was time to go. Harry turned to Remus. He gave him one more emotion-filled hug, then turned into Flame and flew to the Headmaster's shoulder. Together Dumbledore and Flame left St. Mungo's and returned to Hogwarts.


	21. Gryffindor vs Slytherin

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

Chapter 21 Gryffindor vs Slytherin

The next few days passed quickly. Remus was finally released from St. Mungo's. Harry was allowed to visit him once more at Number 12 Grimmauld Place near the end of the break. Harry was still having a hard time believing Remus was really all right, that what he'd done hadn't killed him. Time and talking with Remus were slowly letting it sink in.

Easter break was almost over. Snape was hardly ever seen. The few times Harry did see him at meals he seemed preoccupied and left as quickly as he'd finished. Neville said Snape had asked him more questions about the venom, too. Neville seemed quite bemused that he currently was getting along with his most hated professor. They were trying to recreate what must have happened to Lupin. Neville said that the venom apparently paralyzed the werewolf's organs and allowed the silver nitrate to actually kill the parasite that caused the lycanthropy. Once the parasite was dead, the paralysis continued to start to affect the human. The phoenix tears then were able to neutralize the venom. Now that they knew a system that had actually worked, Neville was helping Professor Snape in finding alternatives to use as either the venom or tears. It wasn't logical that Harry could go around biting and healing all the werewolves in the world. They needed a long-term solution not based on just Harry. Neville thought that the plant, hellebore, might have the type of poison that affects the same cells as the venom. If they could add small amounts of silver nitrate to it, they could have a possible long-term solution. Snape was researching if the use of a bezoar as the antidote to see if it would work better with the use of the plant than the phoenix tears.

Classes resumed and life settled into a normal pattern again. Ginny was now away more often studying with other fifth years for her OWLs. Hermione was beginning to nag Ron and Harry about starting to revise for their NEWTs. With the new term, Harry was losing his free period, but as it was for Apparition study, he was okay with it.

He got a letter from Fred and George in mid-April. They wondered if Harry would be willing to part with a small loan. They had money coming in, but cash flow sometimes got a little tight in the middle of the months. Harry had to think about it. He had no problem with the idea of loaning money to Fred and George. He had no problem with _giving_ the money to Fred and George, but the way they had phrased their letter made it sound like it was a recurring situation. Harry decided to find out a little more if he could. He went to see if he could find Ginny.

* * *

A week later, Ron sat in the common room just staring into the fire with a forgotten letter clutched in his hand. Harry came over and plopped in a chair near him. "Oi. What's up, Ron?" 

Ron looked up, the blankness leaving his eyes as he focused on his friend. "What?"

Harry sat down by him. "What're you thinking about? You're sitting here in a daze."

Ron looked at him and his face became impassive. His entire body seemed to pull back and become rather cool. "Why don't you tell me? You seem to be the one pulling the strings."

Harry frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't want your charity! Whether it's coming from you or the twins, it's still the same!" Ron stood up and started to walk away. Harry grabbed his arm and spun him around.

"I didn't tell them to give you any charity and I'm not offering any to you. Now sit back down and talk to me! Don't just blow up and walk away!" Ron gave him a glare, but sat back on the couch. "Now tell me what you're going on about."

"Fred and George," Ron shook the crumpled parchment in his hand at the names, "say their _investor_ wants someone to go over their books and offered me five galleons to do it."

Harry furrowed his brow in confusion. "So?"

"Well, _Mr. Investor_, I don't need to have your charity. I can come up with my own money!"

"What charity? They asked me, as their investor, to loan them some galleons. Now I don't have too much problem with that except I'm not sure they really need it." Ron started to glare at Harry. "Just listen. You've seen how they've been this past year. They buy fancy dragon hide jackets and then a couple months later ask if you would want to buy them from them cheap because 'they've gotten sick of them'. Ginny said that they'll go for weeks spending all their time at their store or their new digs and then suddenly for a week or so spend all their mealtimes at the Burrow, eating with your parents. And this happens over and over again. Now I could be wrong, but as this is business, I just want to be sure that they aren't withdrawing too much when times are good, just to suddenly need to replace it when the bills are due. I believe they can make a go of their business and that it could more than adequately support them. I just told them I needed some statements on their business before I would consent to invest more. If, after I see the statements, I believe they need the money, I'll invest it. I happen to know the goblins charge 45 galleons to do statements, so if they're offering you five, it's a bargain to them. I didn't tell them to ask you. As I do believe you know what you're doing with them, I would accept them from you, though."

Ron's glare had dissipated during Harry's speech. His eyes turned thoughtful. "Sorry about blowing up at you, mate. I think I will do this. I could use the galleons. I'd like to get something nice for Hermione." Ron looked up at Harry. "Those goblin books with the translator spell will come in handy that you gave me for my birthday. I'll write back to Fred and George and tell them to send me copies of everything they have and I'll get started on it."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as Ron went up to the dorm to write his letter. Harry wished money wasn't such a touchy subject for Ron. There wasn't much Harry could do about it though. Harry's thoughts turned to the full moon that was once again returning in two days. He wished he still had the mirror to talk with Remus. It was hard being separate from him. He wanted to know how he was feeling. Was he feeling the approach of the full moon at all? As a werewolf he often got tired and drawn as the full moon approached. Harry bet that Remus' nerves were probably worse than Harry's just wondering what would really happen this time.

Harry heard that Remus was going to be watched by specialists from St. Mungo's as well as Dumbledore and Professor Snape. Everyone was anxious to witness whether the lycanthropy was truly gone.

* * *

Harry was tense over the next days. The night of the full moon he didn't think he slept at all. The next morning at breakfast Harry's anxious eyes looked for the Headmaster. He found him at the Head Table. He looked tired, but very happy. He caught Harry's eyes and gave a slight nod. Harry relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

Classes regained Harry's attention until breakfast a few days later. Four owls came into the Great Hall carrying a multicolored box with _WWW_ on the side. They landed in front of Ron. Ron looked with some trepidation towards the box. Eventually he used his wand to open it. The whole table cringed as it opened. Nothing happened.

Ron tentatively looked over the top of the box to see inside. A bright flash later his hair was purple. Ron groaned and took out the letter that was on the top of a bundled stack. He opened it up.

_Dearest ickle Ronnikins,_

_Sorry, but we just couldn't resist. The hair will only last 15 minutes. Couldn't do anything too bad for someone who's helping us out. We've included copies of everything we could find for you to use to make those reports. We've also added a few extra 'bonus' items for your pleasure._

_Ta for now,_

_Gred and Forge_

Ron dug through the box and found a small bag filled with various wheezes. He looked over to Harry and quirked an eyebrow.

Harry glanced towards the entrance to the Great Hall. "You may want to stash those somewhere. Here comes Filch." It was true. Mrs. Norris was proudly leading the grumpy old caretaker right up the Gryffindor table. Ron unobtrusively palmed the bag of wheezes to Harry and stuffed the letter in his pocket.

"What is this? You should know that all the foul effects from those spawns of devils are on the list of banned items. I'll just have to confiscate this box and give you detention for the next week or so. There's plenty of scrubbing needed doing in the trophy room."

"These are just papers from my brothers. There's no tricks in here at all. See?" Ron tilted the box towards Filch. Mr. Filch flinched as if he expected to be attacked. Ron did his best to hide his smirk, but the sides of his mouth were twitching.

Filch gingerly fingered the papers inside and grumpily let Ron seal the box back up. "Just you be careful. I'm keeping my eye on you." He turned and, after one more glare, left with Mrs. Norris.

"Someday I will give that cat a good kick. Maybe as Leo. I'd love to come across her as Leo…" Ron drifted off in a hazy dream with a smile on his face.

"Classes start soon. Maybe you should bring that to the dormitory." Ron snapped out of his dream and nodded. Harry said he'd watch his books for him as Ron brought the box away.

* * *

Over the next few days, Ron's enthusiasm started to dissipate. That first night after classes he eagerly tore into the box (only to have his hair turn purple again). Much to his dismay, all he found were various bits and pieces of parchments. Obviously Fred and George didn't track their expenses and income properly. Ron started to laboriously create records as they should have been kept since the start. After a few days, Ron was officially grumpy. One could often hear him muttering about "those absolute gits" or "what were they thinking?" Eventually Harry was amused to hear, "Five galleons is not enough for this! I bet they didn't send this to me to save money, I bet the goblins turned them down when they saw this!"

Harry just grinned. He was in too good a mood to let Ron's grumping bring him down. He'd received a letter from Moony. Moony told him how the full moon went and his feelings of relief. He told how he thought he'd always be a little apprehensive, but it did look like the lycanthropy was truly gone. Neville was also in a very good mood. The treatment for his parents had started and they could see some response to the new drug. It would be a slow process and may not bring a full recovery, but even now there was some improvement in their conditions. Neville couldn't wait until summer and he could see for himself.

April turned to May. One morning at breakfast news was reported of an attack by Death Eaters in Diagon Alley. Several people were killed before Aurors were able to repel the attack. There was even mention in passing that one of the goblins who stood guard at the entrance to the bank was killed. This was lightly glossed over before the focus of the article returned to the wizards.

Harry decided to write a letter to Ragnok. He gave his condolences on the death of the goblin and assured him that the trust was there if the goblin's family needed it. He received a reply thanking him for his thoughts and the assurance that the fund was available to goblins as well. In this particular case it was not needed however. The situation was taken care of without its assistance.

* * *

Ron finally sorted the books to his satisfaction and advised that a short loan of 80 galleons to tide the twins over until summer would be more than adequate. Ron was determined to get the twins sorted out over the summer and was confident that they would easily be able to pay it back with interest. Harry wasn't much bothered by it, but let Ron set the terms. Ron sent the voucher for the money from Harry along with a blistering letter on exactly how it should be spent and how much he would allow them to withdraw for living expenses for the next month until he could dig deeper in the books over the summer. The twins were absolutely brilliant with their inventions, but Ron was the brilliant one on the business end. Harry was pleased when he heard the twins were more than happy with letting Ron arrange things for them and also seemed to be looking forward to the time Ron could take over that part for them in another month.

With that distraction over, Ron's attention turned to Quidditch with a fervor. This was his one shot at captaining a game this year. He was merciless in his practices and ran drills over and over until almost the whole team was complaining. Most members looked to Katie with 'what did you do to us?' expressions, but she just brushed it off. She was the one not complaining. She was just happy to not be the one in charge for this game.

The weekend of the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game was almost perfect weather conditions. Everyone was hyped and ready to play. At the announcers call, the Gryffindor team exited the locker rooms to a stadium full of cheers. Moments later, the Slytherin team was also cheered as they entered the pitch.

Slytherin was actually quite far ahead in points. With Malfoy as captain, the team had sunk to new lows in dirty play. Gryffindor would need to be 150 points ahead with Harry catching the snitch for Gryffindor to take the cup.

Malfoy had been quiet the last couple of weeks, but as he shook hands with Ron his eyes drifted to Harry and Harry didn't like the intensity in them. There seemed to be a cool fire burning in his gaze. Ron seemed a little thrown as well as Draco didn't want to mouth off or crush his hand. This was a different strategy for the blond Slytherin. Usually he focused on intimidating the opposing captain.

All players mounted their brooms and waited for Madam Hooch to release the balls. Finally the quaffle was released and the game began.

Harry grinned as he immediately soared high to get an overview of the field as he usually did. He loved the feel of flying, with the wind in his hair. He felt Draco's presence behind him, marking him, but paid him little attention. That inattention ended up being a mistake.

As Harry started to scan the pitch looking for the snitch, he was hit from behind with a hex to upset his broom. Harry's broom gave a huge lurch and almost unseated him. Harry quickly clamped tightly to his broom and whirled to face Malfoy.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Draco?"

Draco's eyes were lit with a fervor Harry hadn't seen before. "The time for you to pay has come, Potter,"

Harry stared at Draco in disbelief. "This is not exactly the time or place for this! For Merlin's sake! This is a Quidditch match!"

Draco was keeping one eye on Madam Hooch. His voice was low and his eyes glittered when he replied. "This will be more than a Quidditch match!"

Harry frowned and turned to speed away from him. He started to pull his wand out to be ready for when Draco would send another hex his way. While he was ejecting it, he was hit with an _Expelliarmus_ and his wand went flying from his hand. Draco was right there to scoop it out of the air. His face was twisted into a triumphant sneer.

Harry felt a flutter of panic. He held out his hand, "_Accio wand!" _

Draco gave a start of surprise that Harry was obviously able to wandlessly cast the summoning charm, but though both his and Harry's wands trembled in his fist, he was able to keep a tight grip on them both.

Draco got a look of decision on his face and broke off from Harry's trail. Harry started to chase after him. He needed to get his wand back. Draco took the brief moment of privacy while he was ahead of Harry, to secure Harry's wand in his own holster while he kept a firm grip on his own wand. Then he turned his broom to face Harry again. "So, Potter. You're all alone up here now with no wand." Draco's gaze flicked down to Madam Hooch. She was currently yelling at a Slytherin Beater about a foul. Malfoy sent another bludgeoning hex towards Harry's broom. Harry quickly did a wandless shield that caused the hex to deflect away. Draco scowled, glanced at Hooch and sent another.

Harry dove out of the way and started flying quickly to the other side of the field. He tried to think. Malfoy was right on his tail. A few more maneuvers and Harry gained a little distance. Malfoy wasn't shooting hexes at him at the moment and Harry took a breath to try to figure out what to do.

If he stayed up high in his usual pattern, Malfoy would get clear shots at him. At least when Madam Hooch wasn't turned his way. Sure enough, currently he was in the sight line of the Referee, which meant that Draco wasn't about to commit such an obvious foul. So he still cared enough about the game to not deliberately cause his team to lose. He wanted revenge on Harry, but only out of sight of the Referee.

Suddenly another hex came Harry's direction. Harry did a Sloth-Grip Roll to get out of the way. He couldn't let his mind wander. Madam Hooch had turned away. Harry dove again and got back into the peripheral vision of Madam Hooch. He was breathing hard. He tuned in to the commentary to see what was happening in the game. Slytherin was ahead, 60 to 10. The Slytherin Beaters were being brutal to the Gryffindor Chasers.

So the game was going nowhere, Harry was an open target, and at this rate there was no way they would get the House Cup. Harry ducked another flash of light from a spell coming his way. This was for the birds. He wasn't having any time to look for the snitch anyway, so he may as well try something new.

Harry dove right into the melee of players. The Slytherin Chasers were on a drive towards Ron's hoops. Harry coming out of the sky like that broke their concentration and a pass was missed. Katie Bell recovered and was able to set up a run back to the Slytherin hoops. The Slytherin Beaters objected to Harry's presence and soon a bludger was being sent his way. Harry ducked and the bludger went passed until Jack Sloper, the Gryffindor Beater was able to redirect it.

Harry stayed in the active field of play. He could hear Ron shouting at him, but while there were other players and Referee so close, Draco wasn't attacking him. Of course, the beaters were, but Harry could avoid them pretty well. Finally Ron called a timeout. Harry flew to the ground.

Ron greeted him with a slap on the back of the head. "Oi, Harry! What do you think you're doing up there? Why aren't you looking for the snitch?"

"Because, you git, every time Hooch turns her back Draco throws curses at me! And he's got my wand!"

Ron blinked. "Oh," He furrowed his brow. "Well, I reckon our strategy wasn't working too good down here either and you did help turn the quaffle over." He gave a brief nod and continued. "Okay. You can keep at this level and try to disrupt the Slytherin plays, but watch for bludgers and make sure you stay out of the path of _our_ Chasers. If their Beaters focus on your instead of our Chasers, maybe we can rack some points up on our score. Try to keep an eye out for the snitch while you're at it, though."

Harry nodded, but mentally wondered at how he could possibly try to disrupt plays while watching for bludgers, Malfoy and the snitch all at the same time. The players took to the sky once more and the game continued.

Harry kept close to the Slytherin Chasers. Close enough to annoy, but not close enough to get an elbow in the face. An elbow may be a foul, but if the Referee's not looking…. This accomplished three things. The Chasers couldn't set up their plays properly, Malfoy couldn't get a clear shot and the Beaters occasionally hit their own players when directing the bludgers at Harry. Harry gave up looking for the snitch and settled for trying to keep half an eye on Malfoy. Gryffindor was starting to gain on points now, but they would still lose the House Cup if Harry caught the snitch yet.

The game dragged on. Harry was feeling a little worse for wear. Over the last hour he had accumulated quite a few new bruises. He'd avoided most of the bludgers sent his way, but didn't duck Goyle's bat once. He also got a few elbow hits when he got too close to the Slytherin Chasers.

Gryffindor was up 210 to Slytherin's 120 when Draco focused sharply and started across the field. Harry immediately took off after him. Harry frantically started to search ahead of Malfoy for the snitch. He finally spotted it floating by Ron's left hoop, slowly drifting its way towards the center of the pitch. Harry was flying low to the ground while Draco was coming at it from above. Harry needed to block Malfoy from getting the snitch.

Harry calculated the angle and saw Ginny was in the area, too. He gestured for Ginny to come near then pressed his Firebolt in a steep climb and felt his robes billow out behind him. He was going to get there first. Harry came within centimeters of where the snitch had been. Malfoy scowled and looped around Harry searching for where the Gryffindor was trying to shield it. He looked around in confusion because he couldn't see it. Harry's hands were both on his broom so he obviously hadn't caught it. Draco started to backtrack towards Ron's goals. Ginny pulled up near where Harry was flying at a steady pace.

"What's up, Harry?" she asked.

"Be ready to help block the snitch from view when I dive," Harry said.

Ginny's eyes widened and she nodded. Harry quickly did a flip upside down and his robes started to fall over his head and then he zoomed over towards Ron's goals.

Ron's eyes were focused on the Chasers at the opposite end of the field, but he had caught a bit of that play. "Good going, mate, on blocking Malfoy. What happened though? Where did the snitch go?"

"It got caught in my robes, but it never touched my skin so it's still in play. When I flipped, I had Ginny block the snitch from Draco's view."

Ron smirked then tensed as the Gryffindors scored and the quaffle started back towards his end of the field. "Good thinking. Now get back out there."

Draco was glaring daggers at Harry. He didn't know exactly what Harry did, but he knew Harry had done something. The frustration level of the Slytherin players was growing by the play. Draco started yelling at the Beaters to ignore Harry and keep after the Chasers, but after Harry would break up a few more Slytherin plays, the Beaters would focus back on him.

It was as Harry was blocking another Chaser that Draco lost his temper and sent another hex Harry's way. Harry saw it at the last moment and was able to roll away from it. Instead the cutting hex hit Crabbe a glancing blow on the side of his head. Madam Hooch blew her whistle. Gryffindor got another penalty shot and Crabbe was out of the game.

The Slytherin team started to fall apart after that. Gryffindors took heart and their momentum shifted into high gear. When the score reached 350 Gryffindor to 190 Slytherin, Harry decided he needed to risk flying high again so he'd be better able to see the snitch.

Without the distraction of the players and bludgers, he only needed to defend against the hexes from Draco. The game had been going for over two and a half hours already and Harry wanted it to end. Everyone was tired and he wanted to get away from Draco. Harry started an up and down roller coaster style of play. He'd head up high and look around for about a minute and get back down by the players. On his fifth time up, he caught a glimpse of gold coasting high along by the Slytherin stands. He started his descent as usual then abruptly shifted directions to chase the snitch.

The chase was brief and uncontested as Draco didn't seem to even be thinking of the snitch as being a reason for Harry's change of flight. There were Slytherin Chasers on that side of the field and Draco assumed Harry was trying to break up their play as he normally did in this game. When Harry's fist rose with the captured snitch, Draco gave a yell of fury. Madam Hooch blew the whistle and everyone started over towards Harry or the ground. The final score was Gryffindor 520, Slytherin 190.

Suddenly screams started ringing through the air as curses started their way towards Harry. On instinct Harry ducked below the first one and he heard a shout of pain behind him as it hit someone in the stands. He quickly shoved the snitch into a pocket and put up a shield to deflect the next two and tried to aim the deflection away from the crowd. Aiming deflections wasn't something he'd ever practiced and it only partially worked. The second hex that came towards him deflected away from the crowd, but hit Ginny on the leg as she had been flying towards him. The third hex he managed to deflect up to the sky.

Harry could distantly hear Madam Hooch shouting for Draco to land, but Draco was ignoring her and was intent on Harry. Harry decided to lead him away from the other students. He kicked his Firebolt into high gear and raced out of the pitch.

He was trying to dodge Draco's curses, but he didn't have to dodge much because Draco's aim was off due to his dodging Madam Hooch's attempts at stopping him. Harry tried to think of where he should go. He quickly decided on the Forbidden Forest. It was possible he could lose Draco in there. Harry dove into the canopy. His interesting little parade dove in behind him.

Harry was once again thankful for his animagi forms. He had spent a lot of time running and flying through these trees and knew his way around somewhat. Harry was able to fly the same routes now with his Firebolt that he had flown as a phoenix. He was getting several scratches, but that was a small price to pay. He knew there was a tree ahead that hid another tree behind it. You had to angle high through the leaves or else you'd hit a hidden branch from the next tree. Harry didn't have any worries about he, himself, making it through, but knew Draco would probably get tripped up. Madam Hooch, unfortunately would also probably get hit. He had to try to stop her from following them through the leaves.

The only thing Harry could think of was to go faster. Draco would fly faster as well, but he hoped Madam Hooch had more sense than to fly so fast blindly in a forest canopy. Harry increased his speed and Draco did the same. He could tell Madam Hooch was falling behind.

Up ahead was the tree. Harry pressed himself flat to his broom and flew as high as he could through the opening in the branches. Even so, he could feel the branch drag at his robes and knew he just got a large scrape on his thigh. It was definitely easier as a bird. Though he had never tried to fly this fast through the trees in his form. As soon as he was through he dove and swerved to the left around a tall bush-like tree, slowing a bit to see what would happen. Within a few seconds, he heard Draco hit and give a yelp. Harry winced as he could almost feel the air leaving his body with the "Oomph" sound that came directly after. Besides the initial crack of impact, Harry could hear the sound of something lighter traveling on, crashing through the leaves and branches until there was a distant 'thud' when it hit the earth. It didn't sound heavy enough to be a body so Harry assumed it was his broom.

If Draco had not been on the broom when it fell to the ground, it meant he was stuck in the tree. Harry cautiously turned back around and flew back towards the tree he'd heard the impact on. Without the adrenaline and wind rushing through his hair, the forest seemed still, too still.

Madam Hooch came within sight down below. She had flown in the more open area below the canopy. Harry called her over and together they searched for Draco. Harry was still cautious. He wished he had his wand.

Finally they found him. He was unconscious and snagged on a large, forked branch. The branch was stable and broad enough to hold his weight. Harry started to untangle Draco's robes. It looked like when he flew through the gap, he hit the main branch with his leg and somehow his robes got tangled up in some branches that slammed him down on his current resting place like a catapult that refused to let go of its projectile. Madam Hooch started casting emergency first aid spells on Draco to find out what was wrong with him. Finally she looked up to Harry.

"I don't know what all that was about, Mr. Potter, but Mr. Malfoy needs to get to Madam Pomfrey right away. Fly back to the castle and let her know he's on his way. I'll immobilize him and take him back more slowly."

Harry just nodded and turned his Firebolt to go do as she said. He landed at the castle steps and was met by the Headmaster, and Professors McGonagall and Snape.

"Draco Malfoy's been hurt. Madam Hooch is bringing him in. I need to let Madam Pomfrey know that he's on his way." The Headmaster nodded and Harry ran past them.

When Harry entered the Hospital Wing, the first thing he saw was Ginny. She was sitting on one of the beds. Madam Pomfrey was behind a curtained area. She came out when she heard him rush in. He passed his message on to Madam Pomfrey along with a brief description of what he saw. She quickly rushed off to start assembling supplies and Harry sat down by his girlfriend.

"I'm sorry you got hurt."

Ginny smiled at him. "It's not a big deal. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a trice. It was only a graze, unlike the one that Marco Gunn was hit with."

Harry quickly lifted his head. He knew that name. That was one of the younger Slytherins in his Defense group. "What's wrong with him?"

"It got him in the neck. He's lost a lot of blood. It's still touch and go, but Madam Pomfrey is hopeful. Tell me what happened with you."

Harry's eyes were still on the curtained bed just down from Ginny's as he told her what Malfoy had been doing during the game and how he led him into the forest afterwards. Soon there was a commotion towards the door and Madam Pomfrey was directing the teachers on where to place the unconscious Malfoy.

Harry and Ginny watched them work until they seemed to get him stabilized. Then Snape's eyes roamed the room until they landed on Harry. He swooped over like an overgrown bat.

"Well, Potter, what have you to say for yourself? Trading curses during a Quidditch game! I think the game should be stricken from the records!" Harry could hear McGonagall sputtering behind him.

Harry blinked and then exploded in return. "There was no 'trading curses'! He was after me. I didn't even have my wand! In fact, would you mind getting it from him? I believe he has it in the holster on his arm."

Snape sneered and looked around. The Headmaster and McGonagall were standing behind. Dumbledore lifted his brow and asked, "Would you check, Severus?"

Snape tossed his head, which made his greasy hair fly back over his shoulder and out of his eyes and he stalked over to the bed that Draco lay in. He lifted the boys sleeve and removed the wand from the holster. Even he knew the Bloody Boy-Who-Lived's wand by sight. Unfortunately, this was it.

He seemed to swallow uncomfortably and removed the wand. The Headmaster took it from him and handed it back to Harry. Harry nodded his thanks and put it away. "Is Draco going to be okay? He hit the tree pretty hard."

"Time will tell, my boy. I believe the initial diagnosis is two broken ribs along with his left femur. He also has a concussion. Madam Pomfrey will be able to give a more complete prognosis after he regains consciousness." The Headmaster's gaze became grave. "Harry, could you give me your account of what has happened? I have already heard from several eye witnesses of the attack after the game and Mr. Weasley reported that it had been an on-going thing throughout play, but I need to have a more complete knowledge of what happened."

Harry briefly told his side of what happened and the chase into the forest. Dumbledore nodded his head in a weary way as if he had expected what he had heard. Harry was allowed to leave after that. He gave one last look to the two beds now surrounded by curtains. Madam Pomfrey was dividing her time between the two.

They made their way to the Gryffindor Tower. The common room had a party going full blast. As Harry and Ginny made their way into the room, a cheer rose. Harry gave a half-hearted smile and looked to find Ron and Hermione.

Ron was holding court and reliving several key plays for a bunch of lower classmates. Hermione was smiling indulgently at him. Ron looked up as Harry and Ginny crossed the room and abruptly abandoned his following.

"Harry, mate! How are you? Colin said he saw you coming back into the castle. What happened after you took off? Where's that Malfoy git?"

Harry and Ginny took turns explaining a condensed version of what happened. They speculated briefly what punishment, if any, Malfoy would get then Harry got Ron talking about his first win as acting captain. Ron's face split into a wide grin and he was off again. Others were drawn over by his wide arm movements and excited voice describing the different plays as he saw them and eventually Harry and Ginny were able to drift away.

They found a open chair against the wall and Harry pulled Ginny onto his lap. They just sat quietly, enjoying watching the party until Professor McGonagall came to chase them all to their dorms for the night.


	22. Final Battle

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

**_Reminder: This was all plotted out long before HBP came out and is definitely an Alternate Universe story. Actions and behaviors in the Half Blood Prince are not the same as here._**

Chapter 22 Final Battle

Over the next few days, rumors went wild. The news circulated that Draco Malfoy was being expelled as soon as he recovered. He didn't need his wand snapped as it had broken in his accident. His broom also broke, but that could be repaired.

The young Slytherin, Marco, was recovering slowly in the hospital wing. Harry and several other DA members chipped in the give him several packages of Chocolate Frogs and various other sweets.

Harry also started getting emotion flashes again that were not his own. Feelings of anticipation made him think something big was coming soon. It all came to a head one night when he had another vision.

_The time had come. In a darkened room Bellatrix escorted a goblin into Voldemort's presence. Harry was standing to the side. He noticed the goblin held himself proudly and did not kneel before Voldemort. Harry thought he looked familiar, too, with his dark, slanted eyes and pointed beard._

_Voldemort leaned forward, an expectant look on his face. "Well, goblin? What is the news you bring?"_

_The small goblin straightened even more and his eyes narrowed. His voice was low and raspy when he spoke, as if it hadn't been used in years. Harry suddenly realized this was the goblin that scanned his Aunt Petunia. The goblin let a slow smile spread across his face and there was something in his expression that seemed triumphant._

_The strong emotions of anticipation and delight changed in a flash as rage twisted its way across the snake-like features of Voldemort._

"_You think to stay neutral? There is no neutral! Your death will be a sign of how I will deal with your 'nation'! Avada Kedavra!"_

_Harry's scar burst with pain. He felt his heart twist as he saw the green light head for, then hit, the small goblin._

_The expression on the goblins face was something he thought he'd never forget. Instead of the look of surprise, there was a look of peace or satisfaction on the dead goblins face._

_Voldemort turned away from the body of the goblin and spoke to Bellatrix. "As we will not need to wait for the goblins to join our ranks, there is no longer a need to put off our plans. Gather our allies and we shall commence with the attack."_

_The vision faded._

Once again Harry missed his mirror. At two in the morning he needed to decide what, if anything, he should do about his vision. Harry reviewed the vision again in his mind. There was nothing to be done for the deceased goblin. Plans for an attack were to happen soon, but he didn't know what they were or where it was to take place.

Harry decided to wait for morning. As soon as curfew was over, he was out of the common room door. He made his way to Dumbledore's office and used the password to get in.

Dumbledore was already at his desk. He looked faintly concerned. He didn't seem overly surprised to see Harry and listened attentively to Harry retelling of the vision. While Dumbledore was processing what he was told, Harry pictured again the look on the dead goblins face.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts by Dumbledore's prompting. "What is troubling you, Harry?"

Harry frowned. "The look on the goblins face when he died. He had seemed to expect Voldemort to kill him and seemed…not happy, but satisfied? Content? I don't know exactly how to describe it."

"Do you think that is a sign that the vision is false?" Dumbledore stroked his long beard as he peered at Harry through his half-moon glasses.

"I don't know. It's just odd. It's also odd that I recognized him. He worked at Gringotts. I don't remember his name, but he did the scan on Aunt Petunia to get the listing on what had been at #4 Privet Drive."

Dumbledore's eyes narrowed in thought. He was obviously running names in his head. "Do you think you would recognize the name if you heard it?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno."

The Professor sat up a little straighter behind his desk. "There are three skilled scanners that I know of; Pikestaff, Kruge and Jermack."

Harry turned the names over in his mind. His eyes met the old Headmasters. "Kruge. I'm sure of it."

Dumbledore got a thoughtful look on his face and his posture relaxed a little. "Let me tell you a little about Kruge's history." Harry looked on curiously. "Kruge has been a highly ranked official in goblin society for decades. He and his mate had one son. They remained close to that son even after he had grown, found a mate and raised a family of his own. I do not know what Kruge's political leanings were during the first war, but his son was involved in a faction that opposed Voldemort. One evening Death Eaters came and murdered the son's entire family, including Kruge's mate who had been visiting.

"Since then Kruge has been alone He had always been a goblin of few words, but after his family's death he spoke even less. It could be that, if this vision is indeed true, Kruge took this opportunity to finish his son's work before 'joining' them."

Dumbledore gained a thoughtful look. "If Kruge was, indeed, the last of his clan, his murder could also afford some protection for the rest of the goblin community."

"How, sir?" Harry was curious.

"As I'm sure you remember from your History of Magic class, goblin have a violent history. Their rebellions were not always against wizards or other magical beings, but they also fought violently amongst themselves. Entire family lines were being wiped out due to property disputes or mining rights. In 1435, the Goblin Elders decided the only way to protect their population was banishment.

"They came up with spells and enchantments to identify family lines. Each clan has a symbol placed on them from birth to identify what clan they belong to. It is somewhat similar to the way the Dark Mark is imprinted on Death Eaters.

"If any clan is wiped out by murder, the murdering clan is banished from all goblin territories. So, if the Dark Mark is similar enough to a clan marking, and if Kruge is, indeed, the last of his clan, there could be a possibility that anyone marked with Voldemort's symbol will find themselves unable to access any area controlled by the goblins."

Harry frowned for a moment, then his eyes widened with realization. "Like Gringotts?"

A small smile graced the Headmaster's features. "Exactly. Locations such as Gringotts." The Headmaster pulled out his pocket watch and looked up at Harry. "Well, Harry, I thank you for telling me what you have seen. I hope I will be able to get confirmation from my other sources. But for now, I believe you should head down to the Great Hall so you can break your fast with some of the delicious offerings from our industrious house elves. I shall be joining you shortly."

Dumbledore rose from behind his desk and escorted Harry to the top of the revolving staircase. Harry gave him a slight smile. "Thank you, sir. I think I will."

Dumbledore nodded with a twinkle in his eye.

* * *

The Great Hall was filled with students eating breakfast. While Harry made his way to the Gryffindor table, he took note that Professor Snape was missing. The Slytherin table seemed to be missing a few students as well. Harry sat with his friends and had just started to relate what happened so far that morning when a group of students entered the Great Hall. Harry looked up and a chill ran down his spine.

The largest portion of students seemed to be Slytherins, but not the ones you would trust. Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Nott and Pucey were the Slytherins he recognized and there was one he didn't. With them were a Ravenclaw, two Hufflepuffs and even a Gryffindor. He recognized the Ravenclaw as a sixth year girl named Fawcett. He couldn't remember if her first name was Sarah or Sally. Kevin Erntwhistle, a seventh year, was one of the Hufflepuffs. The Gryffindor was Vicky Frobisher, a seventh year who was good with Charms. Her attitude had never earned her any close friends. Harry didn't know any of them well, but was getting a bad feeling about this.

Ginny saw him watching them settle at their various tables, sometimes talking with younger siblings or friends. They all had an attitude of having a common secret and an air of expectation, or an eagerness. "What's the matter, Harry?"

Harry turned troubled eyes to Ginny. "I'm beginning to wonder if maybe the attack will be here." Ginny took a deep breath and Hermione put her hand to her mouth. Ron just firmed his jaw and narrowed his eyes while his mind processed different paths they could take. His eyes scanned the Hall looking over the available students.

"The DA will help us keep an eye on that lot. Hermione, you go to Audra. Ask her and Blaise to watch Crabbe and Goyle. Ginny, go to the Hufflepuff table and ask Ernie and Hannah to keep an eye on their lot. I'll ask Terry and Luna to keep an eyes on theirs. Harry, you talk to Neville, Dean and Seamus to keep an eye on Frobisher and that Slytherin with the big nose, and anyone else who may look suspicious. Then we'll watch Parkinson, Nott and Pucey. Never did like that bloke. He's a dirty Slytherin Chaser."

Each blinked at Ron for a moment in shock then nodded and went about their assignments. It wasn't ten minutes later than the first alarm went off. Every eye went to the Headmaster. His eyes closed as if a terrible burden was just placed on his shoulders then he snapped into action.

"Everyone, please remain seated except for the Prefects. Prefects, account for the students of your house. When you are finished, let your house ghost know if any students are missing. All staff to me. The Head Boy and Head Girl are in charge. All students will remain in the Great Hall." With that, he rose from his seat and strode out of the Hall, the teachers following him.

After the last teacher, the great doors swung closed and heavy beams could be seen locking them in securely. The noise level in the Great Hall went from dead silent to instant babble. Harry gave a quick glance around. The Junior Death Eater group that had walked in together were all staring at Adrian Pucey with their wands drawn under the house tables. Harry glanced at his DA members. They were still keeping a close eye on their assigned students, but seemed to realize something was up, because Harry could see several of their wands out as well. His own was aimed at the Slytherins he was watching.

Hermione and Ron were letting the seventh year Prefects take the roll so they could keep watch and were sitting as alert as Harry and Ginny were.

Suddenly, Pucey gave a nod and each suspect stood from their seat and shouted, "For the Dark Lord! _Reducto_!"

Before the words were even out of their mouths, _stupefies_ were flashing their way. Of the ten students, eight were hit before they could finish their cast. Ernie and Hannah had hit the same Hufflepuff so Kevin Erntwhistle got a spell off. His spell hit the Ravenclaw table which exploded wooden shards into the nearby students. Crabbe also got a spell off aimed at Harry, but he was able to use the _absorbio_ shield to block it without a deflection. Three other students had also stood and shot Reductor spells. One had been stopped before the incantation was finished, but the other two were able to cast theirs. One hit the Gryffindor table near some fourth years. Most of the Gryffindor students were able to get shields up to deflect the wooden shards. The final spellcaster, for a reason unknown to Harry except stupidity, aimed his spell at the empty Head Table. No students were injured with that spell. All of the attackers were subdued before they could cast a second spell.

The Great Hall was now chaos. First and Second years, already on edge from the alarms and lack of teachers were crying openly. The wounded had a huge crowd gathered around them, but Harry wasn't sure anyone was doing anything. Other students were walking from table to table to discuss what had just happened and what might be happening outside. Some had wands out near the _stupefied_ students, just waiting to see if they twitched. Audra and the Roger Davies, the Head Boy, were trying to get students attention, but were being ignored or unheard. Finally Harry had enough.

He shot a booming firecracker noise from his wand such as he'd seen Dumbledore do. Silence fell in the Great Hall from surprise as much as anything. "Enough! Everyone stay calm! Audra? Roger?"

Audra gave him a thankful look and took command. "Everyone back to your seats. Now the first thing we have to know is who is wounded and how badly."

It ended up there were only superficial wounds. Painful, but not anything life threatening. Once the wounded were identified, those who knew first aid were assigned to help them and get them bandaged up. _Ferulas_ were echoed about the Great Hall for a few minutes as bandages flew from students wands.

Roger Davies was looking very nervous. Once the injured students had been cared for, he glanced uneasily at Audra then said, "I suppose we should move the students who attacked some place out of the way…"

"Good idea. I need some volunteers to levitate them over to that corner." She pointed her wand to a far corner. "Make sure their wands get removed and cast an _Incarcerous_ on them. Prefects, report to your house ghost and then report to us."

Harry and his friends instantly volunteered and helped levitate the students to the corner. Once there, Harry stopped them before they bound them. "We should check them over first. They may have port keys or spare wands on them. Anything that looks out of place, remove. Better safe than sorry."

A thorough search was conducted of each student. Only on three students was anything found. Pucey had an old belt coiled in his pocket, Parkinson had a striped sock and the seventh year Gryffindor had a chain in her pocket. They weren't sure these were port keys, but they were suspicious enough to take them away from them.

After the students were bound, Harry started thinking about what they should do next. Audra came over. She looked concerned. Roger Davies, across the Hall, looked about to hyperventilate. "We have three students missing. Two second year Ravenclaws and a fourth year Gryffindor. The ghosts are searching the castle right now."

Harry nodded. "We need to find out what they did and what is going on." He jerked his head towards the bound and unconscious group.

Ron slowly paced in front of the group. He gave a light kick to Goyle's leg. "Reckon we can force them to tell us if we beat the snot out of 'em?"

Hermione placed herself between Ron and the unconscious group. "_Ron_! We can't do that!" She crossed her arms in front of her and her voice took on a worried tone. "Besides, it would take too long to get them to crack. We need to know what's happening sooner than that."

"Maybe there's a way," Audra was looking over the group on the floor. She pointed at the smallest one. "That one is Andrew Pucey. He's a second year Slytherin. I saw Adrian talking to him after he came in. He's still young and hasn't yet learned when to keep your mouth shut. With the right persuasion…."

Ron looked a little confused. "You mean, beat him up?"

Audra looked at him with scorn. "Gryffindors! No. Learn some finesse! Flattery can work even better sometimes. He likes to _brag_ about his big brother. Separate him from the others and we'll work on him."

Audra directed them to move him to a separate area out of sight of the bound group. She then called over several other Slytherins.

Harry watched from a distance. The group of Slytherins made themselves comfortable a short ways from the younger boy. They started talking and Audra slyly enervated they younger boy. Harry could see him jerk as he awoke and do a not-so-surreptitious search for his wand. When he didn't find it, he gave up and just lay there pretending to still be unconscious. Harry could see when their words start to affect him. He would twitch as certain phrases would reach his ears and his body would tense up as if he wanted to jump up and join the conversation.

Finally the boy could take it no longer and started speaking loudly to the group gathered near. They turned their heads as if surprised that he had interrupted them. One of them made a dismissive gesture and they turned away again. The boy became more insistent and started gesturing with his hands to emphasize his words. Finally, he had their attention and his chest started to swell in pride as he rambled on and on.

Eventually, he seemed to run out of things to say and Audra _stupefied_ him again. They rebound him and levitated him back to the others. She thanked the other Slytherins and asked that they keep their mouths shut for now about what they heard. They left to go back to their table.

Audra turned back to Harry. "They had been taught a ritual that needed to be done when they received some sign. They received that sign sometime during the night. Somehow an unseen hole in the wards could be created by using spellcasters from the four houses. Other alarms would go off when the hole was breeched, but the worst damage would be done. Death Eater's have an open door to the school. Once the teachers left, they were to start attacking the 'mudbloods' and causing panic. Then when their 'master' took the school, they were to be honored." Audra looked at Harry curiously. "For some reason, they were told you probably wouldn't stay with the students but go with the teachers."

"They're right. I will be going to the teachers." Harry said in a low determined voice.

Ron grabbed his elbow. "Not without us."

Hermione was upset. "Harry, you have to let the teachers handle it…"

"Hermione, you know what I have to do..."

He was cut off by Ron. Ron twisted Harry to look at him face on. "Not. Without. Us!"

Harry looked in Ron's eyes for a moment, then looked around at Hermione and Ginny. Both were looking as determined as Ron. If Harry was going out, so were they. "Not without you," he agreed.

Ron gave a short nod. "We've got your back." His eyes narrowed as he looked around at all the other students. "Besides, there may be more who want to help. They…"

Ron wasn't able to complete his thought because Roger Davies walked up to Audra with some news.

"The Grey Lady reported the Ravenclaws are in their common room. They had decided to skip breakfast this morning. The Gryffindor is in his dorm. He hadn't been feeling well and decided to sleep in a bit. Sir Nicholas says he's terrified but there's nothing we can do for them." He shakily made his way over to another group of Prefects to pass on the news.

Ginny looked to Harry. "Harry, you've got to get them. It would be safer for them here, than by themselves. They must be so afraid."

Audra looked at Harry. "I don't know why you guys even talk of leaving. You can't leave. It wouldn't be safe to open the doors for you to get them. I'm not even sure we could open the doors anyway."

Harry ignored Audra and spoke to Ginny. "Ginny, how can I? Anyone could see."

Ginny jutted her jaw out. "We can block you from their sight." Reluctantly, Harry nodded.

Hermione grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute, Harry. Not everyone would know what you are or what to do. Let me write a note giving them some instructions."

Hermione started taking supplies out of her bookbag and scribbling a note while Ron called Neville and Luna over. He briefly explained what they were going to do. Luna was the one to realize they would need more help. "If Harry's coming back with three others, he'll need more room than this. We should probably have three more people to help hide them from sight."

Audra had gone quiet. She had no idea what they were talking about, but they obviously had some plan. If they knew of some way to reach the outside students, she was willing to listen.

"What is it you are planning to do? We _cannot_ open these doors. Those are the Headmasters orders in the case of emergencies."

Harry turned to Audra. "There will be no added danger to any students in here. I have a way to get out without opening the doors, but it would be better if I wasn't seen. I can bring the students back. Everyone in here will be as safe as they are now. But we will need a distraction and we will need to borrow a few more students." He looked out at the students nearby. Most were still seated, but Hannah and Ernie were Prefects and weren't too far off. Blaise was sitting at the Slytherin table, but his dark eyes were intensely focused on their group. "Hannah, Ernie and Blaise?"

Audra's eyes were cautious, but she nodded. "Will ten minutes do? I can get Roger to go over the list of emergency procedures." At Harry's nod, she went to the requested students and directed them to help 'guard' the attackers and then headed over to talk to the Head Boy.

Once Roger Davies had everyone's attention away from the corner, Harry turned to the newly arrived 'guards'. "I'm getting the missing students, but if anyone says anything, it was Fawkes doing it." When he got confused nods of agreement, he stepped back behind the group and transformed into Flame. He barely registered the shocked reactions of the newcomers before he quickly took the note Hermione was holding out in her hand in his beak and flashed to the fourth year Gryffindor dorm.

The dorm looked empty, but Harry could hear terrified whimpers coming from behind one set of bed hangings that were tightly closed. The whimpers rose in volume as noises coming from outside of the castle rose. Harry briefly saw a horrible image out of the window. The teachers were fighting as best the could with other Order members and a few aurors, but Firenze was down and not moving. Hagrid was obviously hurt and they were obviously outnumbered. There were a few other figures lying on the ground that Harry couldn't identify right away. Harry could see more Death Eater's and other creatures entering the grounds from an area beside the main gates.

He dropped the message on an open bed and sang a few calming notes. Slowly a crack appeared and an eye peeked through at him. He gave another trill and motioned towards the note with his beak. The boy looked on in awe at the bird. Slowly he moved out of the perceived safety of his bed and read the message.

"Hermione Granger? Tail feathers?" He looked at the bird curiously. Flame gave another calming sound and presented a feather for the boy to hold. He cautiously took one and they flashed to the Ravenclaw common room.

Two girls were huddled on a couch in front of the fire. They screamed when Flame and the Gryffindor boy appeared.

The boy's bravery seemed to increase around the two girls. Harry smiled to himself as the boy put his own fear aside to help calm the two girls down.

"It's all right. Hermione Granger sent a note saying this bird will bring us to the other students. You just have to hang on to her tail." Harry was a bit miffed at being called a 'her'. The girls calmed down a little at the prospect of not being alone anymore. The sounds of the battle could be heard here as well. It made Harry wonder if a silencing charm had been set on the Great Hall.

Flame flew near the two girls and the boy and presented his feathers. They each grabbed hold and he flashed them back to the Great Hall.

Once there, Hermione hustled them out of the enclosed group and escorted them to their tables. Their sudden appearance caused a brief disruption in Roger Davies speech, but by the time they told any of their story, "Fawkes" had disappeared and only students were in the Great Hall. Including, of course, Harry Potter.

Harry was being stared at by the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins who helped block the view. He just shrugged at them then turned to Ron. "From the little I could see or hear, the battle is not going well. Quite a lot of the Order has shown up and some aurors, but they are badly outnumbered and the enemies numbers are still increasing." He paused and forced himself to say what Ron would need to hear. "I saw some Dementors, trolls and…acromantulas."

Ron instantly started turning green. "Spiders? Why did there have to be spiders?" He stiffened his spine and turned to face the others. "We should find out who all wants to help fight."

Harry and Hermione started to object, but Ginny overrode them. "Ron's right. They have a right to defend the castle, too. They have lost family and friends. You heard what that boy reported. Voldemort told them to attack the students and then he was going to come here himself. What do you think would happen to them then? You've said the numbers are overwhelming the defenders. Well then, let's add to the defending numbers. You said there are Dementors out there. Several of the students can now cast Patroni. If they want to, let them help!"

Harry nodded. Hermione tightened her lips, but nodded as well. Roger Davies finished his speech and Audra lifted her voice to get the attention of the students. "We are organizing a group to help the teachers fight. This is not a game. This is life and death. People are quite likely going to get hurt or even die out there. Think seriously if this is something you want to do. You do not have to."

About fifty students rose from their seats and made their way over to the group. Harry just about groaned when he saw some where as young as first years. Little Michelle Avery was among them.

Hermione got out some parchment and a quill. "Let's make a list. First we need to know exactly how many students want to fight."

Ginny pointed out, "Maybe not just students." She turned to Harry. "You said Hagrid was injured. Was Grawp there?"

Harry thought back. "No. I didn't see him anywhere and he would be pretty hard to miss."

Hermione started to write on her parchment. "Then we should try to contact him." She hesitated and looked at Harry. "What about the centaurs? Would they help?"

Harry hesitated. "I don't know. All I know is we can't ask them to. I'm not sure what the relationship is with them right now. We can send them news of the attack and that Firenze is down, but we'd have to be very careful with the wording."

Hermione looked a little green. "Maybe you should write that note. I didn't do too well with them last year and you did talk to them a few months back and live to tell about it." Harry nodded and took a spare parchment from Hermione. He borrowed another quill and sat down across from Hermione to start to write. He could hear Hermione continue with her list.

She looked around at the group assembled near, listening to her. "I'm sorry to say that I don't think anyone below fourth year should come." There were several protests by the younger volunteers.

Audra quickly nodded. "I agree. The spells learned before then aren't the type used for fighting. They can help guard our student attackers."

Hermione looked at Audra seriously. "You can't go either, Audra."

Audra narrowed her eyes. "Why? You think because I'm a Slytherin…"

"No! You are the Head Girl. The Head Girl and the Head Boy already have duties assigned to them by the Headmaster. You need to keep watch over the students left behind and keep them safe."

Blaise put an arm around her shoulder. "Granger is right. Your job is to stay here and keep the remaining students calm. That's not going to be easy. They're going to feel guilty for not volunteering and the wait will drive them crazy. You also need to keep watch for any other attackers. There could be more and there are definitely friends and younger siblings like that Andrew Pucey."

Audra's shoulders slumped briefly, then straightened. "All right." She took a deep breath then continued, "Now that you have an idea of how many will go, how will you get them out?" Audra, Blaise and Hermione looked at Harry.

He looked up and shrugged. "If I tried this many, I'd burn."

Hermione frowned and put a check by that item. "We'll have to think about it. Assuming we can get everyone out, where do we go? We don't want to end up in the middle of the fighting."

Ernie asked, "What about those port keys? If stretched out, they could probably carry quite a few."

Ron shook his head. "IF they _are_ port keys, we aren't sure how to trigger them and even if we did, we don't know where they'd take us. It wouldn't do us any good to be taken to V..Voldemort's fortress when the fight is here."

Hermione nodded in agreement. "The port keys won't work, but keep thinking. Ideas like that will help."

Ron muttered, "I just wish we could see what's going on out there. How can you plan any sort of defense when you're blind?"

Blaise softly asked Harry a question. "Harry, does that map of yours show the grounds? That could help us know what's happening and what we're up against."

Harry hit his head with his hand. "Of course. I should have thought of that." He looked around and saw the sea of faces that now stared back at him. There was no way out of the spot light now. Audra sensed his problem.

"Why don't you call that weird little house elf to help you get it? Would he be able to find it for you?"

Harry's eyes lit with relief. He smiled at Audra in thanks. He called out, "Dobby?"

A loud crack and Dobby appeared. "Harry Potter, sir!" The house elf's eyes were wider than normal and his ears trembled.

Harry put a hand on Dobby's shoulder and could feel the slight body quaking in fright. "It's going to be all right, Dobby. I need to ask if you can do something for me." Dobby's eyes grew even wider. "A group of us are going to go help defend the castle and try to get some help from other beings from the forest. To do that, we need to know what is going on out there. Do you know the map I have?"

Dobby slowly nodded.

"Do you think you could get the map and my Firebolt from my trunk and bring them back here?"

Dobby's eyes hardened with resolve. "Dobby will do this for Harry Potter, sir. And Dobby will help, too!" With a determined nod, Dobby cracked away.

Harry's eyes met Ginny's and he felt a little uneasy. He still had memories of 'Dobby's help' back in his second year and even though Dobby had never let him down, he couldn't help his first, uneasy reaction.

Ginny gave a little smile. "You're good with him."

Harry gave a lopsided smile. "I like him."

Another crack and Dobby was back with Harry's things. "Here you are, Harry Potter, sir!" He thrust them towards Harry and cracked away as soon as Harry took them. Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Ron took the map from Harry and laid it out across the table. "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." The crowd around the table gasped as they saw the lines form across the map. There were several mutters of appreciation and some of jealousy as what it was became apparent.

The school was empty except for the Great Hall where the students names were crowded on top of each other. On the lawn in front of the school there were many dots. The whole area, from the Whomping Willow in front of the Forbidden Forest, to the greenhouses, to the gates and Hagrid's hut, people were obviously in battle.

"Oh, no. Look!" Hermione pointed to a dot that was being herded away from his group. Harry could barely make out the name Elphias Doge before it just disappeared from the map. Hermione gasped in a breath as she witnessed it, too. They realized the only reason he disappeared was because he had just been killed.

A strained silence fell on the crowd. Harry looked at the gathered students. "If any want to stay, no one will blame you."

There was a silence, and then Blaise spoke up. "We realize what's going on out there. But we also realize that it's coming for us whether we're in here or not. I, for one, would rather be out there, bringing it to them rather than wait for them to bring it to me. There's more control that way. So let's get on with the plan."

Ron pointed at a clear spot of the map. "The Quidditch Pitch. There's no fighting there. If we can get there, we can see what's happening, but still have some protection. Now we just have to find some way to get out there."

At that moment a series of loud cracks sounded in the Great Hall. At the same time, the walls seemed to light up as several ghosts drifted in. Harry looked up from his note to the growing crowd. There were a dozen ghosts and about thirty house elves including almost all from Harry's home. Even Peeves came along under the watch of the Bloody Baron's eye. The unholy gleam sparkling in Peeves black eyes was barely suppressed.

Dobby stepped forward. "Harry Potter, sir, we would be honored if we could help you."

Harry blinked in shock for a moment. Then he gave a second look around at the newest volunteers. "You want to help defend the castle?"

Sir Nicholas floated forward. "I believe I speak for all of the resident ghosts. This is our home, Harry. We do not want to see it fall. Alas, we have no idea on what we can do to defend, but if you have any suggestions, we are willing to put ourselves at your disposal."

An unknown house elf stepped forward as well. His large eyes opened wide. "We is not wanting master other than Hogwarts. Some of us listen to Dobby and wants to protect our home, too."

Harry looked over at Tubow and lifted an eyebrow. "Those of us who can, will fight for you, sir. Those of us who cannot, will help calm the students left behind."

Harry smiled at them gently. "I do not ask this of you."

Kreelo spoke up. "We knows this, Harry Potter. We do's this anyway."

Harry looked over the ghosts and Peeves again. "Now if I understand correctly, you can't actually physically touch things. Correct? Except for Peeves?"

Sir Nicholas agreed. "That is correct, Harry."

Harry focused on the poltergeist. "You're willing to help, too, Peeves?"

With a flick of his eyes towards the Bloody Baron, Peeves answered. "If Peeves can help cause trouble to attackers, Peeves is on your side."

That gave Harry an idea. "Ginny, do you know your way around your brothers shop?"

She looked confused, but nodded.

Harry continued. "Okay. I reckon if we can get a pile of supplies from there, Peeves could help us use it against the Death Eaters."

Ron asked, "What about the other ghosts? What do you think they can do to help?"

Harry looked at them and his mind went back in time. "They can help distract the enemy. Back when Voldemort and I dueled in fourth year, the echoes that came from his wand were able to distract him enough for me to get away." He turned to face the ghosts directly. "Do you think you could do that? Even just running your arm through someone could be enough to distract them from the spells they're casting."

Another house elf stepped forward. "What would you want us to be doing for you, sir?"

"If you would be willing, could you transport us to the Quidditch Pitch?" The elves nodded enthusiastically. "Do you think you could use your magic against the Death Eaters?"

Most of the elves lost their enthusiasm with this question. Harry thought for a moment. "What about against the spiders or trolls?" The heads were bobbing rapidly again. "All right. Winky, please take Ginny to WWW and load up with supplies. Hermione, would you be willing to find Grawp and lead him back here? He remembers you. You could take my Firebolt."

Hermione got a pained look on her face. Ron seemed to understand. "I'll guide you on the broom. We'll both go." Hermione smiled at him. Ron turned back to Harry. "What about the centaurs?"

Harry looked his friends over. Ron was taller than Harry and Hermione already had an uneasy history with the centaurs. "I have the note written, but it would be much safer if it was delivered by someone young. Their culture is against any violence towards the young. Unfortunately, they already consider us to be adults."

"I can bring the note, Harry," Harry looked over and saw Michelle Avery watching them. She was the one who had spoken. Harry started to shake his head, but Michelle interrupted him. "You helped me and my family this summer, I want to help you now."

Hermione looked at him. "She is young and we'll be nearby."

Harry was reluctant, but could see the reasoning behind it. The centaur culture would not injure a foal and she definitely would be considered a 'foal' whereas Harry, Ron, Hermione and probably Ginny would not. "All right. But don't say a word to the centaurs. Give the note to their leader and come straight back when it's done."

Michelle nodded. "I agree."

Ron looked over at the map again and then at the house elves. "D'you think some of you could bring us over to this section where there's no fighting? It's just inside the Forest." The elves crowded around but didn't seem to understand how to read the map.

Harry tried. "Could you bring them just inside the Forest behind Hagrid's Hut?"

A small house elf in the front said, "We could do that, sir."

"Good. Then you lot get going." Winky stepped up to Ginny and three Hogwarts house elves stepped to Michelle, Ron, and Hermione. With the Firebolt in Ron's hand and with a loud crack, they were gone.

Harry looked at the map again. He could see one possible problem with going to the Quidditch pitch. "The Dementors and other creatures aren't showing up on the map. We need to find out if there are any in the pitch before we go there."

"I'll go look for you, Harry." Moaning Myrtle had drying tear tracks running down her face, but she kept her head up and looked at Harry.

"Thank you, Myrtle." Harry smiled at the ghost and she smiled back with a faint silvery tint to her cheeks. She then turned and left for her mission through the wall.

Blaise was looking over Harry's right shoulder at the map. "If only there is some way to close that hole. More Death Eaters keep coming."

Harry felt a cold chill on his left shoulder. A hoarse whisper reached his ears. "Mr. Potter," He looked up to see the features of the Bloody Baron next to him. His eyes were more alive than Harry had ever seen them. That was saying something for a ghost. The press of students who had been anxiously trying to see had backed a considerable ways away.

"What, sir?"

The Baron continued in the hoarse whisper that sent chills down his spine. "The wards around Hogwarts have been weakening for decades. Dissention between the houses worsened almost fifty years ago and have continued to widen since that time. Each year, teachers from each house must renew the wards, but there is only so much they can do against the trouble within the school. It was because the wards were so weakened that the hole could be created by students from each house uniting and wanting it to be there."

"D'you think that united students could close it again?"

"I do."

"Do you know the spell to renew the wards?"

The Baron nodded his head slowly. "I do."

"Will you help us?"

"I will. Everyone participating must join hands. It will work best if there are even numbers from each house. Form a circle alternating the houses."

Harry looked to Audra. She took over and asked for volunteers across the Great Hall to help in a protection spell. Many of the students joined the crowd. There ended up being a total of thirty from Slytherin so Audra cut the numbers from the other houses to match. One hundred twenty students formed a large circle. Harry was between Blaise Zabini and Hannah Abbott. They all joined hands around the four house ghosts in the middle.

The hoarse whisper of the Baron reached their ears. "Keep in your minds and hearts the desire to protect this school." The ghosts then joined their hands and started the incantation. After each line it was repeated by the students.

At the end of the incantation, there was a bright light in the Hall and a tingling sensation ran through Harry's body. By the reactions of the students around him, others felt it too.

Colin's voice came over to Harry. He had been watching the map since he was an extra Gryffindor and not needed for the spell. "It worked! They're not coming through anymore!" A cheer went up around the Great Hall.

Myrtle came floating back into the hall. "Harry, the pitch is clear. The fighting is all outside of it." She looked about to cry. "It's not going well at all."

Harry nodded. "Thanks, Myrtle." He looked around at the students. Audra was thanking them all for their help with the wards and separating them back into two groups again. Harry noticed the house elves split themselves as well. His eye fell on Gilly.

Gilly was looking rather depressed. Harry made his way over to the elf and knelt down by him. He spoke quietly. "Gilly," The house elf raised his eyes to meet his masters. Harry thought he seemed ashamed of himself. He supposed that Gilly was strongly feeling the lack of his magic at the moment.

"Gilly, we need some help. The students in that corner attacked the rest of us earlier. They need to be guarded. If you have any suggestions or would help to guard them, it would mean a lot to me. The students being left to guard them are young and don't have much experience."

Gilly's eyes had followed Harry's finger to the stunned students and his eyes turned hard. His shoulders straightened. "Gilly be doing as Master says." He scanned the Hogwarts elves staying behind and in his gravelly voice commanded a few to follow him. He led them to the corner where the nervous second and third year students held their wands on the stunned group. He issued several more orders and the house elves snapped their fingers. Bars started growing up from the stone floor and a roof slid over top of them, effectively creating a cell for the attackers. Gilly closely inspected the handiwork, had them redo one area and finally gave a nod of approval. He looked back at Harry. Harry smiled proudly at him and nodded his thanks.

Harry walked back to the group getting ready to go. Ernie nodded towards the cell. "Good idea, that. I was concerned about the younger students getting overpowered. I know Audra is staying and all, but we're not leaving many behind who we really trust that can defend themselves properly if they should be attacked again."

Harry smiled. "It was Gilly's idea. I just asked if he had any suggestions."

Ernie had a strange look on his face. Harry arched an eyebrow in question. Ernie shifted a little uncomfortably. "I just never thought about house elves being able to think, I guess."

It was Harry's turn to look at Ernie a little strangely. "Of course they do. I wouldn't say their thought processes are exactly like ours, but they are very intelligent creatures."

The time for conversations was over as everyone was finally sorted. The ghosts left first to make sure the pitch was still clear. Harry grabbed the map and gave Audra a nod as Dobby took him out to the pitch.

* * *

The noise was briefly overwhelming. The cracks of the arriving house elves with their passengers was barely heard above the shouts and cries of pain coming from outside the Quidditch pitch.

Harry took off for the stands. He wanted to get to the top so he could see what was happening. He felt several of the newly arrived students following him while the elves cracked away to bring more.

At the top he looked out. Several teachers were down. One group of Death Eaters was casting spells at the castle doors. Hagrid was on his knees still trying to fight off several mountain trolls. He could see Poppy trying to tend to some of the wounded. The Dementors, and there were many of them, seemed to be waiting for some signal. The spiders were already in the fight. There were several cocoon masses lying on the ground.

Harry looked over towards the gate. He winced at the sight. He could tell exactly where the portal had been because it must have slammed shut while a Death Eater was entering. There was a bloody mass on the ground. His stomach turned at the sight.

A gasp at his side showed Hermione, Ron and Michelle had made it back. Michelle had a red gash on her face. "What happened to you, Michelle?"

She looked up at him. He could see dried tear tracks on her face but she was determined. "I gave the note to the centaurs. A big black one got angry and kicked me. That made the others angry. When I ran away, they were all fighting each other."

Anger coursed through Harry. He gently touched near the gash. "I'm sorry you got hurt. I thought you would be safe."

"I know that, Harry. And I think I would have been if not for the big black one."

Ginny came rushing up the stairs. "I'm here. Winky sent back two other house elves to get Fred and George."

Harry put an arm around her. "We should come up with some sort of plan. What do you think, Ron?"

Ron was looking out over the lawns. His eyes were narrowed in concentration. "The defenders obviously need help, but those Dementors are going to be moving soon and it'll be easier to defend against those from here." He looked back to Harry for confirmation. "You defended from across the lake, didn't you?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. The further you are from their effects, the easier it is to cast the Patronus spell."

Ron gave a short nod in return. "All right. We need a group of students who can cast Patroni to stay here. As soon as we start casting, though, we'll most likely be attacked so we'll need a few others to stay to help cast shields or defensive spells." He glanced at the map in Harry's hand. "It wouldn't hurt if someone kept an overall eye on Death Eater positions. They could try to double-back to out-flank us."

The young voice of Michelle Avery spoke up. "I can do that. I may not be good at shooting spells but I can give a warning if I see something. That way you don't lose any fighters to just watching the map."

Ron looked to Harry who gave a nod. "I'll agree if Kreelo will stay in the area to get Michelle out if the pitch gets breached. Do you agree Kreelo?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, sir. Kreelo will help defenders here and especially help young miss." The small house elf stood proudly with his recognition from his master.

"Winky, could you and Tiz make your way to Madam Pomfrey and help her? See if she wants to be taken back to the infirmary to work on the badly wounded. Would you be willing to take direction from her and help pop the wounded to her?" The two female house elves both nodded and curtsied. There was still some fear in their eyes, but also resolve.

Ron was giving out other directions. "I think we should go out in groups of three or four students and one ghost, if possible. One should be strong in shields, the others in offensive spells. The ghost can try to throw the opponent off their stride by distracting them. Start the attacks with bludgeoning, cutting, and expelling curses first. Summon their wands if there's time and break them if you can. A major problem we've had in the past is Death Eater's that have been enervated and keep rejoining the fight. But keep in mind that even without a wand they can be dangerous. Some know wandless magic. Okay, split into groups."

The students and ghosts started doing this when suddenly someone yelled, "Look!"

The Dementors had begun to move. They started to glide nearer the fight. They came to a dark-haired, fallen man and surrounded him. A scream could be heard from the victim and they could see one of them bend over, then silence from the victim. The fallen man and Harry's late godfather super imposed themselves in Harry's mind.

"_EXPECTO PATRONUM_!" Harry's shout startled the others out of their shocked silence and more cries of the spell abounded. Prongs leapt into the group of Dementors first and scattered them. Harry's anger was such that scattering them was not enough. Prongs chased after the one who performed the kiss. Hermione's otter joined in corralling the evil being. The Dementor tried to fly out over the castle boundaries, but seemed to hit a dome covering the castle grounds and was trapped. Prongs charged. Instead of just using his antlers to toss the Dementor away, he impaled him. As the antlers entered the Dementor a high-pitched sound tore across the grounds. Prongs kept the pressure up and eventually pushed his way all the way through the creature. A sudden darkness seemed to flash out of the creature and the robes collapsed over the Patronus. Just moments after, Prongs dissolved, too, and the robes fluttered to the ground.

There was sudden stillness across the grounds as everyone stilled in shock of the destruction of a Dementor. Then with renewed vigor, the fighting started up again, some of the Death Eater's looking around to locate where the Patroni had come from.

Hermione's shocked voice repeatedly whispered next to Harry. "They can be destroyed. They can be destroyed!" Suddenly she snapped out of it and addressed the other students. "Let's see if we can do that, too. Instead of scattering them, trap them and try to run them through. Neville, help me corner that one." Hermione pointed to another Dementor that was slowly approaching another fallen wizard.

Hermione's otter and Neville's bulldog herded the Dementor against the shield. Suddenly Hermione's otter charged the Dementor and pierced through where the chest would be. Another flash of darkness emitted and another dying shriek cut through the air. The cloak slowly fluttered to the ground. The group of students cheered.

Harry smiled widely then focused back on the fight. "It's time to go. Those staying to protect from the Dementors, work in pairs and see if you can destroy them. There are plenty more in here to destroy."

They worked their way back to the main doors to exit the field. Harry saw Fred, George and Peeves plotting to one side of the pitch surrounded by many boxes and bags. He quickly made his way to them.

Peeves looked to Harry. His eyes were dancing with glee. "Commander Fred and General George have given me their orders." Peeves snapped to attention, seemingly ecstatic to once again be taking orders from his favorite wizard pranksters.

George reported, "Fred and I will alternate trying to monitor what is happening and getting supplies ready for Peeves. We have a lot of different things that could help."

Harry glanced back to Ron who was waiting for him. "Ron, where's the Firebolt?" Ron jogged over to the broom that had been left leaning against the wall and brought it back to Harry. Harry gave it to George. "Use this." George's eyes widened, but accepted the broom gratefully.

Harry turned and joined his friends. Sir Nicholas joined them as their ghostly escort. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione carefully looked out the exit. They could see several other groups of students had joined the fray. There were more ghosts than groups and Harry could see the Bloody Baron enthusiastically wielding his sword and cutting through groups of Death Eater's. The sword did no damage, but the chill it caused did distract and several Death Eater's went down to stunners or other curses. Moaning Myrtle would go invisible until she would pop up right in front of a Death Eater and scream in their face. For once, Harry was happy she had such a piercing voice. The defenders were still vastly outnumbered, but their reinforcements seemed to help some.

Harry scanned the grounds looking for Voldemort. He saw Dumbledore fighting several Death Eater's off to one side of the main doors of the castle. He kept looking and finally found Voldemort calmly surveying the fighting, standing near the group trying to batter the main doors of Hogwarts down.

Dumbledore defeated the group he had been fighting and moved that much closer to Voldemort. Harry motioned to his friends the direction they had to go.

They came up behind a group of five Death Eater's torturing a wizard in auror robes. The four friends sent simultaneous curses their way and took out two of them. The other three had been able to set up shields against the attack. The leader started on the _Avada Kedavra_ curse when Nearly Headless Nick floated through him. This threw the Death Eater off his stride and Harry was able to slip a _stupefy_ against him. Ginny sent a bat-bogey hex then a cutting hex while Ron and Hermione sent _Expelliarmus_ and a bludgeoning hex toward the other two. The Death Eater's couldn't keep their concentration on the incoming spells and ignore Nick's chilly figure floating through them. The students were able to take them down. The summoned their wands and snapped them.

The small group made their way forward. Harry kept a sharp lookout for frontal attacks while Ginny and Hermione watched the sides. Ron kept a lookout for attacks from the rear. Dumbledore was now dueling Voldemort.

At one point, Harry's group was surrounded by twelve Death Eaters. Each of them were getting nicked up pretty badly. They had to focus so much on shields and their defensive spells, they could not get off any attacking spells. Suddenly Peeves swooped down with his mad cackle "Ooh, hoo. Ho ho. What have we here? More big baddies want to play? Peeves will join the fun!" With that, he took a straw-like item and started blowing what looked like a spit-wads at the Death Eaters. Each slapped at their skin where it made contact and started throwing curses towards the poltergeist. Peeves just swooped in a circle and cackled with glee. He turned upside down and looked at them through his legs and blew a raspberry.

One Death Eater stumbled into another. Then they started to stagger drunkenly and fall to the ground. Harry quickly shook off his surprise and stunned the remaining standing Death Eaters. While his friends summoned the wands, Harry looked up and saluted Fred and Peeves who were flying above.

Voldemort's triumphant laugh rang across the grounds. Harry looked on in horror as he saw Dumbledore was down at Voldemort's feet. Everything seemed to pause as the light saw their leader down and the Death Eater's watched their leaders' triumph.

"Before I kill you, Dumbledore, I want you to know how complete your defeat is." Voldemort raised his head and looked over to the group of Death Eaters attempting to break into the castle. "Severus. Show your true allegiance."

One Death Eater broke apart from the others and made his way towards the pair. "Gladly, My Lord." He removed his mask and lifted his wand. All eyes widened. "_Avada Kedavra"._

The green light left his wand and traveled towards Voldemort. Voldemort quickly dodged the spell and roared with fury. He sent a powerful blast back towards Snape that caused him to fly backwards into the group of Death Eaters.

"Bellatrix, finish off the traitor!" the Dark Lord commanded as he turned back towards the triumphant Dumbledore. He started to snarl out the killing curse, when Harry started to move.

He was too far away to be able to help block anything, but after one step he transformed into shadow and flew as fast as he could into the Dark Lord. The momentum carried them back away from Dumbledore. As Shadow gained a position over the Dark Lord, Voldemort started shifting. Harry realized later that he shouldn't have been surprised that Voldemort also had an animagus form since they had suspected Harry's second form had come from him, but somehow he still was.

Voldemort shifted into a serpentine body with black feathers sprouting all over it. He still had two legs but was able to throw Harry off of him and rise into the air on his black wings. The Occamy dove towards Shadow. Shadow dodged and flew up into the air.

He took a quick look around. Many were watching them while others were still fighting. He looked over the gates. Crowds were there too. Death Eater's that hadn't been able to get in seemed to be fighting Ministry aurors. Harry briefly wondered if they should try to open the portal again to let additional help in, but then decided that they were probably better off as they were now. No one could get in, but no one could get out, either. The Dementors seemed to be half the number they were before and they continued to die.

At that point, Harry's brief distraction proved disastrous. The Occamy took him by surprise and clawed at his wing. Harry heard something break and felt immense pain. He landed painfully on the ground and the Occamy landed over him. Shadow was breathing hard with painful gasps. The two-legged Occamy walked over to the wolf creature. When he was within range, Harry lunged and bit him.

The Occamy stretched upwards, but not so much in pain. With Shadows eyesight, Harry saw that his poison was actually making Voldemort stronger. Too late, he remembered that Voldemort had been re-incarnated using snake venom.

The two creatures turned back into their human forms. Voldemort stood over Harry. "Thank you, Harry. That felt good." The red eyes glowed malevolently. Harry quickly got back to his feet and got into a defensive stance. "You have been an interesting opponent, but your time has ended." Voldemort casually flicked his wand and sent a cutting curse at Harry. Harry lifted a shield, but part of it got through. Harry could feel blood running down his arm. Harry sent a bludgeoning spell towards Voldemort but he easily deflected it away. Voldemort started sending a stream of curses towards Harry. Harry couldn't keep up. He knew he wasn't up to the fighting skill of Voldemort. Voldemort had decades of using his powers. Harry was soon on his knees with his wand soaring into Voldemort's hand.

Voldemort stepped close to Harry. Harry could hardly see anymore. Blood was running into his eyes. He knew it would be over soon. In the back of his mind, he could hear his name being shouted in Ginny's voice. "Harry!"

Voldemort looked over towards Harry's friends. They were fighting their way to reach Harry's side. Voldemort conjured a giant rope to encircle Harry's friends and drew them near to Harry.

"How sweet. Friends willing to die by your side. Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint them." Voldemort's attention lifted as his eye caught more movement limping towards them. "Young Malfoy. I have heard how you received your injury. Unfortunately Potter is mine and you should have known that. _Crucio_." Draco Malfoy sank to the ground screaming in pain for the few seconds Voldemort held the terrible curse on him. Harry wondered whose wand Draco was clutching as he fell since his had been broken. Then he realized it was probably Marco's, the other patient in the Hospital Wing. The Dark Lord continued. "However, you have proved you have _some_ worth. I will allow you to cause Potter pain by torturing one of his friends."

Draco pulled himself back to his feet. Harry couldn't read his face. He imperiously wiped off some of the dirt from his robe then lifted his wand. Harry tried to lunge towards his friends, but he didn't have the energy.

Draco calmly lifted his wand and sent a cutting curse shortly followed by a bludgeoning spell towards Voldemort. The Dark Lord sent up shields to deflect them and returned the bludgeoning spell back to Draco. Draco was hit and was sent flying. Obviously he had re-broken several ribs and he started coughing blood.

"_You_ would fight for _Potter_?"

Draco's pained face looked disgusted. "Never. I can't stand that Mudblood Lover. But you killed my father. I _loved_ my father. Obviously you have no idea what that means. What that means is that I now hate you more than Potter." The pain in Draco's face was now emotional as well as physical.

Voldemort started to lift his wand towards Draco. Harry interrupted him. "Love."

Voldemort turned to him. "What?"

"Love. You can't understand that, can you? You don't know what that is."

"I understand everything. Love makes one weak."

"Love makes one strong." Harry broke off as a thought hit him. Thoughts of what could happen to him if it worked paled against what would be gained by his friends and the world. His voice changed to a conversational tone. "There is a room in the Department of Mysteries where they study love. It's 'more wonderful and more terrible than death or human intelligence or forces of nature'. It gives you strength when you have none left. It gives you courage against all odds. It's what will keep people fighting even if we lose here today. It's something that can never be destroyed."

"Let's see if you believe it can never be destroyed as I torture and kill your friends in front of you." Voldemort again lifted his wand. Harry started to gather his strength. "_Crucio_." Ginny started screaming in pain. Harry transformed into Flame and threw himself, broken wing and all, towards the evil maniac.

He flew into the spell and felt the curse pain all over his body. He screeched in pain but kept going. Finally he hit Voldemort's chest and focused on flashing them into the locked room in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. A wash of fire went over him as they disappeared from sight.

* * *

Harry knew pain. The gentle fire turned into a raging inferno. His form burned from the inside out and he could hear Voldemort's screams as the flames spread to him. Harry turned back into himself and opened his eyes. They were inside a white room. There was nothing physically in here. Voldemort managed to douse the flames and turned red eyes on Harry.

"What is this place! What have you done!"

Harry just shrugged as he kept looking around. Voldemort started to rant, then suddenly his voice cut off with a startled gurgle. Harry looked at him in surprise, then he heard it, too.

The feeling he got when Fawkes sang seemed multiplied a hundredfold. The sound of a hundred phoenixes washed over him and into him. His heart expanded until it could expand no more, then seemed to explode. It was more than his body could take.

Harry had no awareness of his surroundings any longer. The feelings tore through him in waves. Memories started to spin in front of his eyes. Memories of living with his parents as a baby to memories of the current fight. Memories he didn't even know he had, tore from him in a brilliant swirl of colors along with the feelings associated with those memories. When all seemed to be pulled from his mind and body, Harry was limp and could only wait for what would come next.

What came next was judgment. Each figure in his past was brought forward and all memories and feelings that came with that figure were examined. His parents came one at a time. His mother came with feelings of love and guilt. The feelings were examined and he was left with the returned feeling of love from his mother. The same happened with his father, except there was slight shame mixed in for his teenaged behavior. Once again, feelings and motives were judged and he was left with a feeling of love and support.

Figure after figure came to mind. Some people who had only a small impact on his life had little judgment, such as Dudley's gang. Harry didn't like them, but that was accepted. He had never acted maliciously against them. Others, such as the Dursleys and Snape, had a longer examination. Harry's feelings were definitely mixed towards those. But, once again, dislike was accepted as long as there had been no deliberate harm done to them. The elder Weasley's came next and Harry once again was left with love and acceptance.

Then came the big figures in his life. Sirius, Remus, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Dumbledore. The love, respect and caring; the desire for them to survive above all else even above himself, burst forth in a tidal wave of emotion. Harry thought there was no way for his body to contain all the emotions and felt himself slipping away.

Harry's vision sharpened as he withdrew from the visions he'd been seeing. Violent screams came from his side and he looked over to see Voldemort cowering away from whatever he was seeing. Finally Voldemort grasped his chest and collapsed to the floor. A dark mist started rising from the body. Light flashed around it and seemed to tear it apart. An inhuman scream was the last thing heard as it disappeared.

Harry took several deep breaths, then started towards Voldemort's body. Harry's body still screamed in pain at his movements, but he crawled over and made sure he was dead before he searched for his wand. Once his wand was in his hand, he made his way towards the door, levitating the dead body behind him.

_Alohamora_ didn't work so Harry tried _Erumpo_. That one did the trick and the door flew open. Once in the circular room of doors, Harry once again sealed the door he had come from. As soon as it closed, the room began to spin and Harry passed out.


	23. Epilogue

Disclaimer – Harry Potter is not ours. We just let our imagination play in JK Rowlings world.

Reminder: This was all plotted out long before HBP came out and is definitely an Alternate Universe story. Actions and behaviors in the Half Blood Prince are not the same as here.

Chapter 23 Epilogue

Everything kept fading in and out. Sounds would impinge on Harry's brain loudly and then quickly fade away like an out of tune radio, but he couldn't understand what the sounds meant. He could tell by the smell that he was in a hospital room, but it was too quiet for the Hogwart's infirmary. Pain started to register in his brain. He just wasn't sure where it was coming from. Finally the sounds reduced to more realistic levels. The foggy blackness that surrounded him lightened. The pain started to condense to an area in his back.

"Harry? Are you still with us, my boy? It is time for you to wake up if you are."

Harry knew that voice. Dumbledore. That figured. It must be the end of a school year then. It always seemed that something happened that would land Harry in the Hospital Wing with Dumbledore at his side at the end of the school year.

"You've been sleeping for over two days, Harry. You're going to miss this celebration, as you missed the last one, if you don't wake up soon."

Celebration? What celebration? Was there a Quidditch match? Who won?

"Come, Harry. Open your eyes now."

His lids felt heavy but he tried. The light was bright and he flinched away from it.

"Harry?" He said his name again with a bit more hope and encouragement in his voice.

Harry tried again. Dumbledore must have dimmed the lights somewhat. It wasn't as painful. Everything was blurry. He couldn't see anything. Glasses were placed on his face and the worried features of his old Headmaster came into focus.

"Harry? Are you still with us? Can you understand me?"

Harry blinked. He tried to speak but his voice didn't seem to want to work. Harry swallowed and tried again.

"Sir?"

A huge smile spread across his Professor's face and his eyes brightened with a twinkle. Harry just realized it had been missing before.

"Well done, my boy! Do you remember what happened? The battle at Hogwarts?"

Harry frowned and blinked a few times as memories started to return. The alarms sounding. The teachers leaving. The attacking students. Plans to help fight…Dumbledore down and Voldemort about to kill him….

"You were down and he was casting a curse…. Are you alright, sir?" Harry's voice came out in a rasp.

The smile widened again underneath the long snowy beard. He handed Harry a glass of water to help sooth his dry throat. "I am just fine. I'll need a cane to help prop up my old bones for a while, but I shall recover in full."

"Ron? Hermione? Ginny?"

"They are all fine as well. They are awaiting your return at Hogwarts."

Harry frowned in confusion and looked around. The room was a small private room. He recognized the cluster of crystal bubbles on the ceiling as what he'd seen at St. Mungo's.

"I'm at St. Mungo's? What's wrong with me?"

Dumbledore pulled on his beard as he scrutinized the young man before him. "There was a fair amount of spell damage, but the main reason was you would not awaken and there were some concerns for your…mental…health. Now that you have been so obliging as to open your eyes, we can plan the arrangements for your return to Hogwarts."

A voice from the door interrupted their conversation. "You'll not be making any plans on moving anybody just yet. By your words I'm assuming Mr. Potter is awake?"

Harry looked up to see a sandy-haired man in lime green healer robes with the St. Mungo's crest on them. The crossed wand and bone emblem verified his location.

The healer started to speak slowly and enunciate each word as if speaking to a child as he faced Harry. "Mr. Potter, do you know who you are?"

Harry frowned in confusion. What was this man's problem? "Ye-e-e-es?" he replied just as slowly.

Albus Dumbledore started to chuckle at the by-play between the two. "Harry seems to be just fine, Healer Kegg. His memories are quite clear on recent events."

The healer looked surprised. "Oh, really?" He blinked rapidly a few times. "Well, I guess the Unspeakables were mistaken, I'm glad to say."

Harry looked at him questioningly.

"They said you would most likely become one of our long-term care patients. I am so pleased they were incorrect."

Harry blinked a few times in return. "So am I." He looked over to his Headmaster. "What is it lately with people wanting to put me into the long-term care ward?"

The Headmaster just laughed as he moved out of the way of the healer. The healer held his wand above Harry and started muttering some words under his breath as he checked Harry over. He had Harry flip over to perform the same spells over his back. A spike of pain shot through Harry's back shoulder blade during the turn. Harry hissed in a breath.

"Hmm. Well, _most_ of the physical damage has been set right, though I imagine a pain relieving potion wouldn't be refused, eh? The nerves are back to normal after the Cruciatus damage was repaired. Your scapula, though, is a bit of a mystery. We are reading that it is broken and is a source of pain, but there is no readable injury that we can see or heal." The Healer scratched his nose. "Yes, quite the mystery…." He seemed to snap himself out of his musings. "Now then, I imagine there are a good deal of people who would like to speak with you since you do seem capable of responding." The Healer went to a cupboard and muttered an incantation with his palm against it. Harry realized it was a recognition spell. The cupboard opened and the Healer brought out a vial. "Take this pain relieving potion. When you are through, I'll leave you be and start on your paperwork. You, Headmaster Dumbledore, should not stay above another half an hour."

Albus Dumbledore inclined his head as Harry took the potion and the healer headed out the door. Harry looked intently at his old Professor. "Sir, you are okay, aren't you? I wasn't sure I got to him in time."

The venerable wizard smiled reassuringly at his young protégé. "I am, indeed, fine, young Harry. It will take these old bones some time to recover, but I am alive, which I must confess, I had some doubts of being after that fight." His face came alive with a sudden thought. "Oh! I almost forgot. I have something for you, my boy." The old wizard pulled a wand out of one of his pockets. Harry's wand.

Harry took it reverently. The warm feeling he always got from holding it washed through him again. "Thank you, sir."

Harry had a lot of questions. He badgered his Headmaster with them for the next half hour. Yes, his friends got by with only minor injuries that were quickly healed by Madam Pomfrey. Remus had gotten to the fight only after the wards were re-established, which was a very fine piece of magic, by the way. The wards had never been so strong in Dumbledore's lifetime. Remus had been one of the fighters outside of the Hogwarts gates. No. No students had died. There were some injuries, of course, but no student deaths. Harry felt the Headmaster was holding something back, but knew from experience he wouldn't get more information at that time. He moved on to his next question. The students who had attacked the rest of the student body were to be expelled. Professor Snape was fine. Dumbledore cut off his questions as he started asking about other Order members and mentioned that it was time for him to leave. He would return at a later time and check on Harry again.

* * *

Harry dozed after the Headmaster left. He awoke again when the Healer returned. He was given the all clear except for the strange injury to his scapula. The all clear meant he could receive more visitors. Harry was positioned sitting up in his bed when the next group filled his little room to capacity.

Albus Dumbledore, Amelia Bones, an auror, a scribe and another man and woman crowded into Harry's room. The auror stationed himself near the door. Professor Dumbledore conjured three squashy armchairs for the two unknown people and the Minister, while the scribe sat on the hard, wooden chair provided by the room. Professor Dumbledore settled himself on the edge of Harry's bed.

Professor Dumbledore started with the introductions.

"Harry, I'm sure you remember our Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones." The witch slowly nodded her head at Harry. Harry gave her a short smile in return. That was as much as he could do with the butterflies running rampant in his stomach. "Next to her is Ms. Schmidt, a court scribe, Madam Mafalda Hopkirk from the Misuse of Magic office and Mr. Artemis Oldridge, from the Unspeakable Department."

Minister Bones gave Harry a smile. "Mr. Potter, I want to thank you on behalf of myself and the entire wizarding world, for your efforts in the defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The safety of our world and future generations has greatly increased by your, and others, actions." Harry gave another nervous smile. He just had a feeling there was a big 'but' in there somewhere. "However," There it was. "there have been some inconsistencies in the reports of what has happened."

Harry glanced nervously at the auror placed at the doorway. Softly he spoke to his Headmaster. "Am I on trial for something, sir?"

Madam Bones raised her monocle to her eye. "No, Mr. Potter. You are not on trial. We do, however, have just a few questions for you if you don't mind answering them."

Harry relaxed a little, though not completely. "I'll try."

Madam Bones nodded to the older woman with quite a few wrinkles on her face. She looked down at clipboard she had with her and started to speak. "Good, good. Mr. Potter, we have heard various accounts from several people on the happenings at the battle, but a few things are still unclear. There were reports your changing into an animagus form at approximately fifty-six minutes after eight in the morning of said attack. The penalty, if found guilty, for the failure to register as an animagus is not less than thirty days in Azkaban prison and destruction of your wand. There is also a second intelligence of a second form at approximately seventeen minutes after nine…" She looked up, slightly confused. "As no other second form has ever been reported if this intelligence should be confirmed, I'm not sure if the sentence would be consecutive terms in Azkaban or concurrent."

Harry was panicking. His fist tightened on the handle of his wand which was still under his pillow. This wasn't being on trial? There was no way he was giving up his wand! He looked to the Headmaster. Dumbledore calmly drew the attention to himself. "Ah, yes. Mr. Potter and his friends have recently become animagi. Everything has been documented properly. I happen to have the said paperwork with me." Dumbledore reached into one of his many pockets inside his robe and pulled out several parchments. He handed them over to Minister Bones. "I just haven't found the time, until now, to properly file them with the Ministry."

Madam Bones peered closely at the paperwork. "These are dated quite a while back." She lowered her monocle and raised a thick eyebrow in question.

"Yes. As I said, I have been quite busy lately."

The look on the Minister's face was clearly skeptical, but she let his comment pass. She handed the paperwork to the scribe who set it under the clipboard. She turned her attention back to Harry. "As the forms are completed, there will be no further pursuing on this matter." Minister Bones gave a severe look at Madam Hopkirk. The witch just nodded in acknowledgment. Minister Bones returned her attention to Harry and asked in her deep voice, "Mr. Potter, we are quite clear on what happened up until the accounts of your change. Would you tell us in your words what happened?"

Harry took one more quick look at Dumbledore who gave a slight nod. Harry swallowed nervously and started. "My friends and I were out on the lawn and had just gotten past a group of Death Eater's with Peeves and Fred Weasley's help, when we saw Headmaster Dumbledore on the ground and Voldemort," slight shudders ran through most of the listeners, "standing over him. He called Snape," the Headmaster's voice sounded low 'Professor Snape, Harry', "over so he could gloat some more. _Professor_ Snape then tried to kill Voldemort which really ticked him off and he blasted him back. He then was about to kill Professor Dumbledore. I was too far away to do anything so I transformed to Shadow. Shadow is extremely fast and strong and I was able to knock Voldemort," shudders, "over. He obviously had a form as well, because when I had him pinned he transformed into that occamy thing."

Madam Hopkirk leaned forward. "So You-Know-Who had an animagus form as well? An occamy?"

"Yes. At least…I think that's what they're called. Wings? Snake body? Human legs?"

Madam Hopkirk nodded. "Yes. That is the description. So he was a magical creature." She shuddered. "He _was_ very powerful. I suppose that is not surprising." She looked at Harry again. "What was your form? No one seemed to catch a good look at it. You called it 'Shadow'? Was it some sort of bird? There were reports of an air fight."

Harry ducked his head. "Er…no. Not a bird, really. Umm, we don't know what Shadow is." Harry's look darted back to his Headmaster.

Dumbledore leaned forward and intercepted the confused look of the department head. He reached over and teased the papers out from beneath the scribes clipboard. "I must concur that we do not know what Shadow is, besides extremely useful." He flipped through the animagi paperwork and pulled one out. He handed it to Madam Hopkirk. "As you can see, we had to leave the section for 'type of animal' blank. At most, we have to assume he is some lost relative to the Thestral family."

Madam Hopkirk's eyes widened more and more as she read through the paperwork. She would flip to the sketch and then read more on the attributes listed under 'Powers'. She looked up once more. "This is real? This is not some sort of joke?"

Harry could feel his face start to flush. Dumbledore interjected, "Shadow is very real."

Madam Hopkirk turned curious eyes on Harry. "Would you transform so we could verify?"

Harry closed his eyes. "Are you sure? Nobody except Hagrid really likes Shadow at first. Even I didn't."

Before Madam Hopkirk could confirm or deny, Dumbledore interrupted. "I think you are forgetting Mr. Potter is currently residing in St. Mungo's for a reason. Before he does anything it would need to be approved by his Healer."

Madam Hopkirk nodded her head. "Then let's get the approval. Who is his Healer?"

"Healer Timothius Kegg."

Minister Bones nodded to the auror who abruptly left the room. "All right. Until the Healer comes can you continue with the story. You-Know-Who turned into an occamy while you were some other thestral-like creature."

Harry nodded. "Things started moving pretty fast then. I remember flying and noticing the fighting outside of the gates, then he knocked me out of the sky. I landed and we both turned back to human form. We fought for a bit and then he got my wand and pulled my friends near. I think that's when Draco Malfoy showed up and threw some curses at him. Draco mentioned he had loved his father and that reminded me of that room in the Department of Mysteries."

Mr. Oldridge stopped him at this point. "How did you even know about that room?"

Harry bit his lip. "You know about last year? How my friends and I were lured there?"

Mr. Oldridge nodded.

"Well, in that room of doors, there was one we couldn't open, even with my knife."

Dumbledore asked, "Knife?"

"Er, Sirius had given me a knife that could open anything, but it melted in that door."

Mr. Oldridge pinched his nose. Harry could hear him muttering under his breath. He was muttering something about "schoolchildren" and "didn't know what they were getting into." It reminded him strongly of Snape.

Harry pulled his attention away from him and continued with his story. "Later Professor Dumbledore had said that Voldemort couldn't keep possessing me because of my feelings. Then he mentioned a room that was locked that harnessed just such a power. A power that the 'Dark Lord knows not'. So I started thinking if I could just get him in that room, maybe that would do something to him. So I changed to Flame and flashed him there."

"Did you even think about what could happen to you in that room?"

"Yeah. Briefly. I mean, Remus had said that no one had ever come out of that room the same, but he was going to kill us all anyway. If I could save my friends, I didn't really care what it would do to me."

"You would give up your life…?" Mr. Oldridge was cut off by the Headmaster.

"There is no greater love." It was said very quietly, but the reaction on the Unspeakable was like a hammer.

Meanwhile, Madam Hopkirk was obviously thinking of something. She still had the animagus form in her hands and was scanning through it in confusion. "You said you 'flashed'. I don't see anything about a 'flash' on here."

Dumbledore got a small grin on his face and pulled out another animagus paper. "Oh, no. Shadow cannot 'flash'. Harry must become Flame to 'flash'," and he handed over a second animagus sheet. "It is believed this form is Harry's natural animagus form."

Madam Hopkirk's eyes bugged out even further. "It's true? Two forms? Two _magical_ forms? How can this be? You could show us two forms?"

Harry was ready to crawl back underneath the covers. Dumbledore seemed happy to explain their supposition that Harry acquired several 'talents' when hit with the unforgivable curse as a baby. As he'd already had an animagus form, he was given a second. Harry was glad Dumbledore seemed to be enjoying himself. Harry was not. He hated having such strange things happening to him all the time.

The auror returned with Healer Kegg. It was briefly explained that Mr. Potter was being requested to change into his animagi forms. After just a moment of being startled, Healer Kegg took the request in stride. He ran his wand over Harry again to get an updated reading. "I'll leave it to Mr. Potter's judgment. His health is fine except for the problem in his shoulder blade."

Harry looked at the expectant faces of his interrogators, especially Madam Hopkirk, and then turned to his Headmaster. Dumbledore just shrugged. Harry grimaced and started to focus on transforming into Flame. Suddenly Harry stopped.

"I-I can't transform."

"Whyever not, Harry?" His Headmasters voice only held curiosity.

"When I transported, I burned. The injuries, crucio and transporting was too much. If I transformed, it would only be to the hatchling state. I can't do anything in that state."

Madam Hopkirk was beginning to look disbelieving. Dumbledore, however, was just looking thoughtful. He turned his attention to Madam Hopkirk and Mr. Oldridge. "Have either of you studied phoenixes?"

The two Ministry workers looked at each other then back to Dumbledore.

"I have," Madam Hopkirk answered. "I've studied the anatomies of most all animals, magical and non-magical."

"I have as well," Oldridge said. "I've studied all creatures and items known to wizardkind that have light tendencies. As a phoenix is the lightest of them all, yes, I have studied them as well."

Dumbledore stroked his long beard. "Then you are familiar with their hatchling state?" At both nods he turned towards Harry. "I do not think they need to see the powers associated with the form. They should be able to tell that you are, indeed, a phoenix and that should be enough." At Harry's grimace he continued. "You will be completely safe here. No one shall harm you."

Harry was surprised at the Headmaster's perception of the fear associated with the total helplessness in that stage. But maybe he had been with Fawkes long enough to get an inkling of Fawkes' emotions at the different stages.

Harry drew in a breath and closed his eyes. He transformed into Flame and could feel the others rise to inspect him. Harry lifted his head. He'd never transformed at this point. He looked curiously down at himself. His neck was long, but he could move it around. His body had patchy clumps of feathers and down all over it. It brought home how long he'd been unconscious. He was probably about half-way through his re-growth. He didn't look terribly impressive, he thought. The down was gray, with longer golden-red feathers growing out in clumps at odd spots. He itched, too. His back still aching as well. Professor Dumbledore gently picked him up, and held him on his lap stroking his feathers so the others could to examine him.

The healer stepped forward. "I'm just wondering…Headmaster, would it be all right if I could examine Mr. Potter in this form? His injury has baffled us, but we did not know of his animagus form. I'm wondering if he sustained an injury in this state if it would carry over to his human form."

The Headmaster gently set the almost-fledgling-sized bird back on the bed for the Healer to scan and held him still. Harry was trying to rub his neck against the fingers of his Headmaster. There was an itch he just couldn't reach…. The healer frowned at whatever reading he was getting.

"It's a little more difficult since bird anatomy is different from a wizards', but…I think…I'm reading the same thing. An injury showing where there is no injury."

The old Headmaster set the bird back to the top of the bed. Harry transformed back into himself, panting slightly. He arched his back trying to relieve the ache, and to scratch that last itch.

The healer stepped forward. "How are you holding up, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shrugged, and then winced. "I'll be fine. I'd probably not refuse another pain potion when this is done, though."

The healer nodded and stepped back. Professor Dumbledore caught Harry's attention and asked, "Are you up to a second transformation, Harry?"

Harry nodded, and then paused. He turned to the others. "Can you see Thestrals?" At their nods, he continued. "Shadow is something like a Thestral except crossed with a wolf instead of a horse. The eyes tend to freak people out, but he's not dangerous at all."

Madam Hopkirk had the animagus sheet in front of her and was scanning through it. "Venom?"

Harry shrugged. "Well, I'm not about to bite any of you, am I?" At the brief nods of the others, Harry transformed into Shadow. Instantly the pain in his back intensified. He never even noticed the commotion around him as he focused inwardly on the pain in his back wing. The scream from the young scribe as she knocked over her chair trying to get away, while parchment and quills went flying from the ever-present clipboard went unnoticed as did the follow up of Amelia Bones quickly moving back to try and calm the hysterical woman.

The other two reacted differently. Both jumped to their feet, Madam Hopkirk leaned forward to get a better look, Oldridge away to distance himself from the creature. He, at least, wasn't screaming. The healer just stood still in shock.

Harry tried to move his wing out to a different position to see if it would stop the stinging ache. Unfortunately, it only increased and Harry let out a low growl in his pain.

Dumbledore's focus was on the commotion in front of him and didn't see the reactions of young auror near the door. The auror had been trained well. He obeyed his orders. His job was to protect the Minister. He knew when to hear conversations and when to not hear conversations. He always watched for threats. At the initial sound of a scream, his attention snapped back to the conversation taking place. His eyes widened as he saw the Minister diving back for cover away from a dark, skeletal creature. When the black creature growled and seemed to grow in size, the auror assumed it was about to pounce. His mind flashed back to the Diagon Alley attack with the werewolf. He'd been there. His wand was out in a flash and a silver dart streaked towards the dangerous creature. His dart hit right below the back ribs. As the creature yelped in pain, the old wizard next to it whirled around and before the auror could shoot again, he was trapped in a full body-bind sent by Albus Dumbledore. The power and anger in the magic the elderly wizard wrapped around him was something he had never felt before. The auror felt his wand summoned away as he fell against the wall, watching helplessly whatever would happen next.

Moving faster than his age should have allowed Dumbledore cradled the creature's head in the palm of one hand while his other stroked the animal's head. "Harry. Harry, are you all right?"

Shadow had been trying to deal with the increased pain from his wing when he felt something like a knife suddenly plunged into his back and stay there. He yelped in pain. His mind was starting to focus only on fight or flight responses. He wanted to get away. He started to look anxiously around the room for some shadowy protection when his muzzle was firmly taken hold and his head turned toward an older wizard. Dumbledore. Shadow could feel the strong emotions in Dumbledore, but could sense that he only was defending him. A gentle hand stroked his head, calming the panic and hurt he was feeling. Shadow started to relax. Dumbledore sat back down on the bed and removed the hand under Shadow's chin and Harry lay down and put his head on the Headmaster's lap with a slight whine.

The auror watched with disbelief as the old Headmaster tamed the beast, while the healer seemed to snap out of his shock. He looked around at the chaos of the room, shaking his head as if he were just waking up.

An auror was frozen, the Minister was helping a young woman who obviously was in need of a calming potion, a gentleman was standing back against the wall while another woman was crouched on the floor watching the animal and old man curiously. The animal was obviously injured. _Harry Potter_ was obviously injured. The healer moved forward.

"Forgive me. I thought I had just misunderstood when more than one form was mentioned. Will you let me check you, Mr. Potter?"

The animal looked up with peculiar green eyes with no pupils and his tail gave a brief thump. Healer Kegg took that as agreement. He cautiously made his way forward. He didn't want to startle him with any sudden movements. He ran his wand over the injured animal. Harry just closed his eyes. When the healer touched the wing and tried to extend it, Harry flinched and his breathing increased but gave no other sign of the pain.

Finally the healer finished. "You definitely have a broken wing and we'll need to remove the dart from your back." He gave a brief glare at the auror who injured an already injured patient.

The Headmaster asked, "Would it be all right if Harry transformed back now? His injuries seem to bother him more in this form. I believe the dart can be removed while he is human. He has had a similar injury before."

The healer agreed and Harry transformed right where he was. He felt a little embarrassed that he was lying across his Headmaster's lap with his Headmaster carding his fingers through his hair, but he was just too tired and sore to move at the moment. The Headmaster didn't seem phased by it at all and just kept on.

The healer quickly sealed and bandaged the wound and moved on to give a calming potion to the scribe. She had never seen a thestral before and hadn't known what to expect. Dumbledore released the auror from the body-bind and panic seemed to grow in the aurors eyes as he realized he had just attacked Harry Potter. The Harry Potter who had defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The panic increased as he saw the blood staining the back of the boy's hospital gown where his dart had injured him.

Minister Bones heaved a sigh. "Mr. Potter, do you wish to press charges against Auror Jones for his attack?"

Harry just wearily shook his head. "Of course not. I told you, people just don't like Shadow at first sight. Auror Jones was just trying to protect you. Doing his job."

"You are very generous, Mr. Potter." Harry just gave a half shrug, trying to be careful not to use his injured shoulder or move his back too much.

The healer stepped forward. "I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. We need to remove the dart from Mr. Potter and figure out how to heal his wing." Harry had to admit, that sounded strange.

Professor Dumbledore spoke up. "If I may make a suggestion? Our Care of Magical Creatures professor, Rubeus Hagrid, is an excellent healer of animals. He may have several suggestions on how to heal his wing." The healer nodded in acknowledgment.

The Minister looked to her colleagues. "Ten more minutes, please, and we'll be out of your way." The healer looked at his tired patient, who nodded, gave a short nod himself and stepped back.

Mr. Oldridge came forward. "My field of study is that locked room. We have many more questions. So far, you are the only person known to have come out of it 'intact', so to speak. Could you set some time aside to go more in depth on what happened in there? Or maybe go back in again?"

Harry was getting awfully tired. His Headmaster was still 'petting' his hair as one did for a small child. He was lying on his side with his head pillowed on the old man's thigh. He could almost imagine he _was_ his grandson. His back was beginning to feel like it was on fire as the brief numbing charm seemed to be wearing off.

"I'll talk to you about it. I'll even show you in a pensieve what I saw. But I don't know if it will do any good. It was more about emotions felt than about what I saw. I won't go back in there."

"But why not?"

Harry frowned, trying to figure out how to say what he somehow just knew. "It wouldn't end the same. You get…judged… on your motives and actions. If I went in deliberately, the judgment would be different."

Dumbledore came to the rescue again. "It makes perfect sense," he said mostly to himself. "His motives before were protection of his friends, based on his love for them, even to the point of self-sacrifice. He was judged accordingly. If he went in again, the motive would only be curiosity." Harry nodded fiercely, and then raised a hand to his head. He felt a headache coming on.

"So You-Know-Who…?"

"Was, obviously, found lacking." The Headmaster sat back with his twinkle going in his eye.

* * *

With the additional injury, Harry's visit extended several more days. In total, it was just over a week before he was allowed to transfer to Hogwarts and he still needed to get his wing healed. Hagrid had stopped by and it was decided that Hagrid would do better in healing the wing as he tended all the medical needs of the thestral herd at Hogwarts and had some experience with it. He had been overjoyed to see Harry and even more excited to see Shadow again.

He'd been allowed a few visitors in his time in the hospital. The man from the Ministry, Mr. Oldridge, had come back with reinforcements and a Pensieve. Harry had been right. The Pensieve hadn't been much help. It showed what happened, but not what he felt. Harry described everything he could in as much detail as possible, but they weren't pleased. Again, requests for him to re-enter the room had come up and Harry, again, refused. It wasn't until his healer came in and made them leave that they let up the pressure on him.

Justina dropped by. She was very congratulatory on his defeating You-Know-Who. With that out of the way, she got to her real excitement, the progress of her long-term care research. It was going very well. Neville's parents, especially his mother, had made great improvements in their condition. Alice had even been able to speak a few words.

Remus also visited. He had been in a meeting with about twenty werewolves when news of the fight had broke out. They had gotten there too late to join the battle inside the castle wards, but had fought on outside. They had been badly outnumbered until a fresh wave of aurors had arrived. Seven of the werewolves had died to silver dart spells shot by the Death Eaters. Another two were in St. Mungo's and weren't sure if they would make it. Remus, himself had been shot by one, but it hadn't affected him any worse than a knife wound. He had an arm in a sling, but otherwise seemed fine. He'd also been hit by a curse that shattered his whole left side. The Skelegro potion re-grew the bones, but he needed to take it easy on his arm for a while. The sling helped remind him not to use it often.

Remus let him know of the panic that apparently ensued after a worker literally stumbled over the two bodies in the room of doors. Harry laughed picturing someone just walking in and falling over an unconscious boy and the dead body of the darkest wizard in a century that had been just lying across his path. Specially cleared security and healers had been summoned and they had quickly brought Harry to St. Mungo's.

Most of the Death Eater's inside the wards of Hogwarts had been captured. A few had been killed. Harry asked about escaped Death Eaters and Remus started to laugh. The Order and the Ministry didn't think there were too many left. Evidently, the goblins offered their help to the Ministry (for a fee, of course). They had, as Dumbledore had speculated, invoked banishment on any carrying the Dark Mark. It seemed they could also direct where the banishment transported the banished. Any Death Eater who tried to enter goblin held lands were instantly transported to a holding cell at the Ministry. There they were held for trial and if they claimed to be under Imperious, were tested with Veritaserum. So far, no claims had held true. The goblins then received the recovery reward for any captured Death Eaters convicted.

Harry laughed at the cleverness of the goblins. He had to admit he was impressed. They had managed to protect themselves pretty well and make a profit to boot.

Remus also told Harry some not-so-happy news. Harry had known Elphias Doge had died in the battle. He hadn't known Kingsley Shacklebolt had as well. Professor Sinistra had not made it past the next day and had died of her injuries. Several other people Harry knew also sustained injuries. Professor Flitwick had lost the use of both of his legs, but had already charmed a chair to levitate him wherever he needed to go. He had been released from St. Mungo's the previous day and Remus had Harry in tears of laughter describing the sight of the small Professor zooming around the castle. The small Professor's squealing laughter while going up and down stairways had Harry imagining that Flitwick also loved the minecart rides of the goblins. Harry was glad the irrepressible professor never seemed to let things get him down for long. Harry hoped if things ever turned that badly for him, he could take a lesson from him.

There were more injuries and deaths, but Harry didn't personally know the people. Two more people had been kissed. Four had succumbed to spider poison, not including those that fell to the Death Eaters.

* * *

On another day Remus brought Ron, Hermione and Ginny for a visit. The visit couldn't be for long though. Ginny needed to get back to school to study. End of year tests had been canceled again, but not for OWLs or NEWTs. She had wanted to see Harry, though.

For old times sake, she brought him a singing get well card she'd made herself. It wasn't quite as shrill as the one from his third year after his fall in Quidditch, but it was close enough. Harry laughed, shoved it under a pitcher of water and gave her a hug.

Ron had covered his ears. "She did that to you before and you still wanted to go out with her? Are you nutters?"

Hermione hit him on the back of the head and Ginny blushed. "I knew I should have waited and given it to Harry in private."

"Private? I bet they could hear that thing two floors down!" Ginny just chucked one of Harry's chocolate frogs at Ron. Ron snagged it and started eating. Ginny apparently knew the secret to shut her brother up. Food.

Harry changed the subject. "So what's been happening?"

Hermione sat on the edge of his bed. "Well, things are finally settling down. Classes had been canceled, but they start again tomorrow. Most of the students are out of the infirmary. Well, of course, Cho and Michael aren't back yet, but I heard they'll be returning within the week, too."

Harry frowned. "What do you mean, 'of course, Cho and Michael aren't back yet'? What happened to them?"

Hermione looked surprised. "You didn't know? Oh, I'm sorry!"

Harry looked between his friends. "Tell me!"

Ginny looked at Hermione, then back at Harry. "You were right that the Death Eaters tried to attack the Quidditch Pitch once they figured out that was where the Patroni were coming from. Michelle Avery was able to give warning of their movements and they were held off for quite some time, but eventually they started sending flame curses to the base of the pitch and it grew out of control."

Ron broke in. "There's nothing hardly left of it now, mate. Just a burnt out shell. It'll have to be totally rebuilt."

Ginny glared at her brother for his interruption. "Anyway! Once Cho had realized the Dementors could actually be destroyed, she was…obsessed I guess is the right word. She and Michael worked as a pair. Colin said she had tears just streaming down her face, but also the widest smile he'd ever seen. I think her happy thought was destroying her father's attackers or something. There had been upwards of two hundred Dementors on the grounds. Colin reckons she and Michael destroyed most of them themselves. Well, once the fire took hold, others were abandoning the stands. Cho wouldn't go, though. There were still a few Dementors left. She wouldn't leave until they were all gone. She did it, too. She and Michael were brought here with burns and injuries they got when that section of stands collapsed. It was pretty bad. Fortunately, some house elves kept most of the fire away and were able to get to them quickly after they fell and bring them to the Hospital Wing. Otherwise I don't think they'd have made it."

Hermione added, "Actually, the house elves did a lot. They popped all over the place, even in the battles, to get the badly wounded out. They were the ones who drove back the acromantulas to the forest and held them there until the centaurs came."

Harry's ears pricked up. "The centaurs? They came?"

Ron grinned. "Yeah, I reckon you were gone by then. They came! You had just disappeared with You-Know-Who when this loud crashing sound comes out of the forest. Grawp and Minno came storming in followed by the herd of centaurs. Grawp sort of lets loose with this roar and starts tearing into the trolls still beating on Hagrid. Minno helped him out. Let me tell ya, two giants can do a lot of damage to trolls when they work together!"

"Hagrid's okay, though, yeah?"

"Oh, Hagrid's just fine. Well, it took him a bit. Looked a lot like he did last year when he first brought Grawp, ya know? Still does look that way yet, actually."

Hermione nodded at Ron. "Like he said, the centaurs came and mainly battled the giant spiders. Then, afterwards, they brought Firenze away. Dumbledore said they would be better able to care for his injuries than we could."

Remus stepped forward. "Professor Dumbledore told us last night that he met with them earlier in the day. Eldroi, their leader, apologized for Bane's actions against the small child. He said those actions started an interrogation of Bane's activities in the past year or so. Bane admitted to meeting with Death Eaters. For the promise of becoming the new clan leader, Bane promised to keep the centaurs antagonistic towards Dumbledore and all other wizards."

Ginny was curious. "So what will happen to Bane?"

Remus' face became guarded. "Dumbledore said the centaurs passed their own judgment on him."

Ron and Ginny accepted that at face value. Harry, on the other hand, glanced at Hermione and knew, from the look on her face, she was thinking the same as he. Bane would be considered a traitor to the herd. When Firenze was considered a traitor, they had tried to kill him. He imagined Bane was a victim to the others' hooves by now. Harry shrugged it off. It was their culture, their punishment. At least this time it was truly deserved.

Harry started asking about other students he knew had fought. When he got to Neville, Ron gave a snort. Hermione gave Ron a dirty look and Ginny frowned at him.

"What? What's happened to Neville?" Harry's heart started beating a little faster in worry. Neville had been one of the hardest working students in the DA. Harry knew he could produce a Patronus, but it was still hard for him and Neville had decided to join a group to fight Death Eaters directly.

Ron gave another snort. "Well, you remember how V…Voldemort told Bellatrix LeStrange to kill Snape? Neville's group just happened to be the closest at hand and they jumped in to defend him. Neville, Luna, Hannah and Ernie. Can you imagine how he must feel knowing that that lot saved him? His worst nightmare of a potions student, Loony Lovegood and two Hufflepuffs? I laugh every time I picture it! It's classic!"

Harry cut to the chase. "Neville went up against Bellatrix? What happened?"

Hermione took over. "Luckily, the Death Eater's never seemed to take us seriously. They always underestimated the students. LeStrange told the other Death Eater's to stay out of it and said she wanted the pleasure for herself. She did manage to hit Neville and Hannah with _Crucio_, but only for a few seconds. The others were always able to make her break it off by getting past her guard each time. Their fighting took them over near the trolls and Grawp and Minno. Bellatrix was about to cast another _crucio_ when Neville hit her with a blasting curse on her arm. Her curse hit Minno, who'd been spinning in circles with a troll to give him a toss towards the lake. Minno dropped the troll and sat…sat…."

Ginny finished. "It really was awful to see, but you have to admit, in theory, it's rather funny, too. She hits Minno with a misdirected curse who ends up sitting on her. Squashed her flat. No more Bellatrix LeStrange."

It took Harry a moment to process that. "That happened right in front of them? How are they coping with it?"

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "There really wasn't time at the moment to react. Once the other Death Eaters saw what happened, they started attacking. The attacks weren't much, though. Wit h both Voldemort and Bellatrix LeStrange gone, the others seemed to lose most of their enthusiasm. It wasn't much longer before they started giving up. I think Ernie and Hannah are having a harder time dealing with it than Neville or Luna. Neville actually seems pretty calm about it. And Luna…well, how could you tell?"

"They've had mind healers coming in to Hogwarts to talk to anyone who felt they needed to talk." Ginny was pulling at a bit of Harry's covers as she spoke. "I talked to one myself, actually. I think it helped some."

Harry put his hand over one of hers and gave it a squeeze.

Ron gave another snort of laughter. "I just wish I could be the fly on the wall the next time Snape meets up with Neville!"

* * *

Fred and George Weasley stopped by for a visit another morning. Both seemed rather nervous about something. Harry smiled at them, trying to put them at ease.

"I'm glad you stopped by. I wanted to thank you for all you did at the battle. It was great! What was that Peeves was using that downed all those Death Eaters?"

The twins brightened for a moment. Fred started, "Our newest invention…"

"Courtesy of you, actually…"

"Couldn't have done it without you, true enough."

Harry laughed, but admitted he was confused. "What?"

"_Bedtime Blowdarts_!"

"We tried some things out with that venom you gave us…"

"Soaked some darts in just a bit…"

"Works like a dream, so to speak…"

"One hit knocks someone into la-la land for a good twenty minutes or so!"

"They wake totally refreshed!"

Fred looked a little confused. "Not exactly sure why, but it does work."

"Great for the quick cat-nap needed on demand!"

"Pretty safe, too. Hardly enough venom used to kill a gnome."

"We were able to use quite a few of our new inventions actually."

"Yeah, George and I used quite a few _Quicksilver Quicksands_. They were brill!"

"Better than I thought it would be."

Harry butted in again. "What did they do? I wasn't able to see much of what you guys were doing."

Fred's face lit up again. "You can load them to the end of your wand and launch them where you want."

"We shot them behind Death Eaters, of course."

"It forms a hole behind them that they can't see. Kind of like a trick step on the staircases."

"One step and _slurp_! Caught to the waist in quicksand!"

"They still had their wand, but without being able to move, usually got stunned rather quickly."

Harry started laughing, wishing he could have seen it in action. Though, it wouldn't surprise him if they started showing up in school as prank items. The twins were laughing, too until George suddenly seemed to remember something.

"Er…We have something to tell you, Harry."

Fred sobered quickly, too. "We're awfully sorry and we've brought it in to get fixed…"

"They say it will be just like new…almost…"

Harry looked at the twins in concern. "What?"

The twins looked at each other again and together said, "Your broom."

Harry's brain froze in shock. His Firebolt? His gift from Sirius?

"What happened to it?"

The twins shared another look before George started. "I was flying it and was dodging a hex…"

"He didn't see one coming from the other way, and crashed."

Harry looked sharply at George. Now that he was looking, he saw a hint of a bandage under George's robe sleeve. "Are you okay?"

George lifted his wrist and shrugged. "Yeah, I'll be fine. But your Firebolt…"

"Better my Firebolt than you. But, um…what is wrong with it exactly?" Visions of Harry's destroyed Nimbus 2000 was flying through his head.

"There was a crack in the handle. It didn't break totally, though. Quality Quidditch says they could send it to get fixed and it should fly almost as fast…"

Harry gave a short laugh in relief. He would still have it and it would still fly. "Good thing Quidditch season is done then, eh?"

Fred and George laughed in relief. "Yeah, good thing."

* * *

Finally the time came when Harry could leave. Professor Dumbledore entered the room just as Harry finished putting on his regular robes. The St. Mungo's house elves mended and cleaned them as best they could, but Harry knew he'd be dumping them as soon as he got back to Hogwarts.

Professor Dumbledore smiled at him as he entered the room. "Are you ready to go, Harry?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good, good." The elderly man paused as if trying to figure how he wanted to say his next words. "You know, Harry, floo travel has been deemed a little too rough for your condition yet what with your shoulder blade and other modes take too long. I have a portkey that will take us straight to my office." At Harry's look, the Headmaster continued. "Now port-key travel really is very safe…"

Harry interrupted. "I know, Professor. I know. Let's just get it over with."

The Headmaster looked closely at him then pulled out an old potions vial. Harry placed a finger on it and waited tensely.

The Headmaster tapped it with his wand, "Three…two…O-" Harry pulled his finger back at the last minute, changed to Flame. He just couldn't handle a port-key yet. He flashed to the Headmaster's office.

He got there just a split second before Dumbledore and transformed back. The Headmaster looked startled for a moment until his eyes landed on Harry. Harry gave a slight shrug and a sheepish look. "Better safe than sorry?"

Professor Dumbledore started to chuckle. "I had forgotten that mode was probably available again after those extra days in the Hospital. Now we should check in with Madam Pomfrey. I have arranged it that you will spend some time tomorrow with Hagrid. He believes that after a few hours, your wing should be fine. Unfortunately, you will need to spend that time as Shadow. Will these arrangements suit you?" Harry nodded.

As Harry entered the Hospital Wing he noticed the young Slytherin, Marco, was still there. He was sitting up, though, and seemed quite aware if moving a little stiffly. Seeing him brought the other patient to mind. Harry looked around but no other beds were in use.

Harry settled into a bed and Madam Pomfrey came out of her office. "Mr. Potter, glad to see you back at Hogwarts again."

"Madam Pomfrey, what happened to Draco?"

"His recovery was far enough along to be transferred to St. Mungo's. The Headmaster brought him when he came to get you."

For some reason Harry felt surprised. It must have showed on his face because Madam Pomfrey continued. "He had been expelled for what he did to Mr. Gunn, you know. Much less his second attack to get his wand from him last week."

At Harry's concerned look over to the Slytherin, Madam Pomfrey tried to calm him. "In wrestling for the wand, he managed a stunner. Mr. Gunn will be fine."

"Good. I'm glad for that. I just can't imagine actually be expelled and not being able to use magic for the rest of my life." That idea was frightening to Harry.

Madam Pomfrey just snorted, however. "I wouldn't concern yourself too much about Mr. Malfoy. He'll land on his feet, mark my words. As head of his family he can hire any private tutors he wants and I have no doubt he'll find some connections to get another wand. All the expulsion will possibly do is stop him from gaining as much public influence as his father did over at the Ministry."

Harry supposed she was right. Someone in Dung's line of work would be more than willing to 'help out' in obtaining a new wand.

That evening, Harry had a steady stream of visitors. Pretty much everyone who had fought passed through at some point. Some staying to chat, others just to touch base. Those in fifth or seventh year never stayed long. Tests had started after all. Either way, it was pretty late before the nurse chased the last of them out.

* * *

Early the next morning, Madam Pomfrey released Harry to Hagrid's care with a stern admonishment to see her for a final check up afterwards. Hagrid did truly look awful. Harry could bet that dragon meat had been liberally applied to the half-giant face again. His face was several different colors from the fading bruises and he had just a hint of a limp yet. Hagrid just brushed off Harry's concerns, though.

"Wha' abou' you, though. I hear yer back is still troublin' you summat fierce."

It was true. His shoulder blade didn't seem to be getting any better. If anything it seemed to be getting worse. "I reckon I won't be sad to get it fixed."

"Well, why don' we get you all comfortable in me hut and set ter work then." Hagrid led him into the hut and waited for Harry to transform. Fang greeted Harry enthusiastically as he entered.

Harry pet the enormous dog as he looked around the room. Hagrid had bandages and some salve in a large bucket set out on the wooden table. Harry braced himself for the increase of pain he knew he would have and transformed.

Fang yelped and hid under Hagrid's bed. The pain seemed worse than before in his wing. Harry lay on the floor panting. Hagrid crouched near him and started fussing with his injured wing.

"Got yerself a bit of an infection init now. Never shoulda waited so long ifin yer ask me. This salve should do the trick, though." Hagrid stuck his hand in the bucket and liberally coated Harry's wound. After the first initial touch, everything seemed to numb and the pain receded. Harry gave a huff of relief.

With the lack of violence or growls, Fang started to creep out from under the bed, sniffing the air tentatively. Harry noticed Fangs actions and gave his tail a slight thump. That seemed to settle it for Fang and he bound forward, sniffing and licking Harry's face.

Hagrid held out an arm to try to keep the excitable dog back from his patient. "Back Fang. Get back yeh dozy dog! Yeh'll have ter wait 'til I'm finished bandagin' him up b'fore yeh can play."

Harry sent a quiet "please" towards the large dog and got a flood of words back. Fang went back to his basket to wait but kept up a stream of barking and whiffling noises telling Harry more than he wanted to know about what there was to do and see around Hagrid's Hut. Harry idly wondered if this was what Pigwidgeon would sound like.

Finally Hagrid stood back up. "Tha' should do yeh. Another five hours or so an' yeh should be good as new. Now, d'yeh want to stay in the cabin or do yeh reckon yeh feel up to a visit with Grawp? Minno twisted her ankle in the fight las' week. I've had ter make summat t'help with the pain. Got the next dose righ' here." He patted a large barrel sitting near the fireplace.

Harry had to focus to hear what Hagrid was saying. Fang was still going a mile a minute in his chatter. Harry's wing was numb but he felt fine. He thought he'd rather go with Hagrid than be either alone or trapped with Fang for company. He got to his feet and looked at the door.

Hagrid seemed about to burst with pleasure. Fang also got up from his basket and eagerly started wagging his tail in anticipation of leaving the hut. Once again he eagerly came near Harry to lick his face. Harry had never appreciated before how much he appreciated his robes. That extra barrier protected his skin from Fang. Now when Fang drooled he couldn't just wipe it off. It stayed on his skin until it dried. Harry knew when this was over, he'd be a long time in the shower just to try to get the drooled on feeling washed away. Harry supposed he could just growl at him to make him back off, but he really did like the overgrown puppy and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Now that he thought about it, Harry supposed he felt the same as with Hagrid. Hagrid's rock cakes were truly awful, but Harry would never criticize them to his face.

Hagrid lifted the barrel and led them outside. His step seemed extra jaunty as the two black creatures walked at his side. Fang was larger than Harry and dashed to and fro wanting to show him all the wonders of his world (the best places to relieve yourself, the best places to dig, the hole where some rabbits burrowed).

Harry was quite happy to find that as Shadow he had no trouble keeping up with Hagrid's long strides. He didn't know if it was because Hagrid may be walking a bit slower with his limp or if it was his ease of movement in this form. He could easily jump over obstacles and move through any brush. As they moved deeper into the forest, Hagrid paused and looked rather sadly in the direction of the Acromantula den.

"Never would've 'appened if Aragog 'adn't died a month back. The rest o' his lot have bin moved ter the Black Forest. Not that there were many o' them left. Them centaurs are ruddy good shots." Hagrid shook his large head sadly. "Aragog would turn in his grave knowin' what his kin did."

Harry felt Hagrid was wrong there. Aragog didn't have any problems with his 'kin' eating Harry and Ron years back. He doubted he would have had problems with his children eating those captured. But maybe Aragog wouldn't have let them join the Death Eater's against Hagrid in the first place…. He'd never know.

Hagrid continued their walk telling Harry more of the battle from what he knew or had seen. Blaises' group had fought hard and had helped keep Professor Flitwick alive until one of the house elves had got him to safety. They had kept fighting the trolls Death Eater's even after Grawp and Minno showed up.

They arrived at Grawp and Minno's cave. Hagrid set his barrel down and set to work on Minno's ankle. Everything seemed a little surreal to Harry. They even had tea before they left.

Once again, on their way back, they were stopped by a group of centaurs. No arrows were pointed at them this time as they requested Hagrid…and his companions… to accompany them back to their village. Shadow garnered a few strange looks, but no hostility.

Once in the village, they were approached by Eldroi. Harry was happy to see Firenze was behind him, bandaged, but walking. He wagged his tail. Fang took that as encouragement and started to leap forward, but Harry issued a short bark which settled Fang back down and caused him to sit still. Hagrid even looked surprised as he had been preparing to try to hold Fang back from the centaurs.

Eldroi looked at him with bemusement. "Thank you, Mr. Potter." Harry was startled he knew his name. Eldroi turned to Hagrid. "This is correct? We have been hearing tales of what happened before we arrived at the battle and have heard Mr. Potter has returned to the school."

Hagrid nodded. "Tha' he is. He's in this form 'cause his wing was wounded. It needs to be exposed ter be fixed properly."

Eldroi nodded. "We just wanted an opportunity to apologize. Our herd allowed ourselves to be swayed by fear and misinterpretations of the stars to expand that fear. We listened to evil council. We forgot our warrior heritage. We thank you for bringing it back to us. The Sirius constellation has shown there is a change in eras. Venus is bright again. You shall always be welcomed in our herd." With that, Eldroi stepped back and, with the others in the herd, gave a nod of respect to Harry.

Harry bowed his dark head in acknowledgment. He actually was happy he was in the form he was. Shadow wouldn't be expected to respond. He didn't know what he would say if he could say anything.

Hagrid cleared his throat. "Yeah, well, I reckon we should get back ter the castle.

"Of course. Until we see you again." A group of centaurs walked them to the edge of the village.

Hagrid, once again, limped a little faster on the return route to the school. "The ruddiest things seem to 'appen when yer with me in the fores', Harry."

* * *

Harry spent the rest of the time recuperating following Hagrid and Fang around the paddock. Eventually he could turn back to himself and return to the school. Madam Pomfrey kept him in the hospital wing until dinner time.

At dinner that evening, the atmosphere was like a party. There were no assigned seating at any particular house table. Students mixed freely between the tables. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny sat at the Slytherin table with Blaise and Audra. A cheer went up when Cho walked in, helped by Michael. She had scarring on her face yet from the burns, but treatments would now be on an outpatient basis. Much of it could be healed yet, but not all. Some of the scars would last her lifetime. Michael stayed by her side and treated her as spun glass. She smiled gratefully at him in return. Harry was glad to see Michael didn't care that Cho's outward beauty had diminished somewhat. Cho also didn't try to hide her scars. She had changed a lot over this year. Ginny heard she was actually proud of what her scars told about what she did.

Blaise told Harry that it had seemed like a party ever since the battle. Classes were still being taught, but no homework had been given out. Audra and Ginny commiserated on the difficulties of taking OWLs and NEWTs in such an atmosphere, but even so, each girl had a large smile on her face. Several classrooms had been set aside for students who needed quieter areas for studying. Either way, the last of the tests would be done after the weekend on Monday, then they could join wholeheartedly in the festivities.

Professor McGonagall tapped her goblet and Professor Dumbledore rose to his feet. "I have an announcement." The hall quieted and all attention focused on the aged Headmaster. "Our esteemed Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, has declared that on Wednesday you all are invited to an awards banquet to be held here at Hogwarts." Instantly, quiet chatter raced across the hall. Dumbledore held up a hand.

"If you please…. This is a solemn occasion and formal dress robes are requested to be worn. There will be many visitors and dignitaries on our premises for the occasion as well as reporters. Please be courteous to our guests. The assembly will begin at two in the afternoon. Thank you."

Excitement ran through the school. Talk of the banquet was rampant though the halls. Monday was the last of the exams for the fifth and seventh years and classes were over for the general student population. There was more laughter and joy than Harry had seen since his first year. He hadn't realized how the atmosphere had affected the students until it was gone.

Wednesday dawned and around noon, students (at least the females) started to get ready for the presentation banquet. About a half hour before the banquet was to start, the male students decided to get ready as well. Harry wore robes from his manor. The robes were a dark red with gold trim. The Potter crest was on the lapel.

He came down the stairs to wait for Ginny and the others. He was talking with Ron and Dean about what they thought the banquet would be like when the girls entered. Ginny looked beautiful. Her robes were a slate blue with heavy lace around the neck and sleeves. The Weasleys had gone all out and bought new robes for Ron, Ginny and themselves. Ron had told him the whole family would be attending tonight. Harry was looking forward to seeing them all. He approached Ginny and gave her a kiss. Ron was leading Hermione towards the portrait hole and Harry and Ginny followed. Dean was still waiting for Parvati.

The Great Hall seemed larger than ever. The house tables were gone, replaced by many circular tables. Banners and ribbons filled the ceiling and there were little fireworks that would occasionally burst into glorious color around them. It looked very festive. They were stopped at the doors and asked their names. When given, they were escorted to one of the front tables. Harry would rather have sat somewhere near the back, but his friends didn't seem surprised.

The Great Hall was filling rapidly. Also seated at their table were Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Remus, Tonks and all of the Weasley family. Mrs. Weasley fussed over all of them. Mr. Weasley pumped Harry's hand up and down. Fred and George slapped his back. Percy formally shook his hand. His date, Justina, gave Harry a kiss on the cheek as did Fleur, Bill's date and Tonks, Remus' date. Harry gave Remus a quirked eyebrow. Remus blushed but smiled. Remus, Bill and Charlie settled for a one-armed hug with Bill and Charlie adding a stern look to take care of their little sister. Harry enjoyed it all.

Looking around Harry could see things were about to start. There seemed to be many parents here as well as others Harry didn't know. He saw Michelle Avery sitting with her mother and little sister. She was pointing at him and talking very animatedly. He gave her a smile and a wave. Her mother looked to be in shock. Harry figured his secret was out. Ah, well, it shouldn't hurt anything now.

Finally Minister Bones stood on a raised dais. Her iron-grey hair was immaculately styled and her robes were very proper. She looked the perfect picture of what a Minister should be. She also looked very pleased. She cleared her throat to garner attention.

"Shall we begin? We are here this afternoon to honor those who have brought peace back to our world." She began a pretty speech on how the special efforts put forth deserved recognition. Harry listened with half an ear. He looked around the Hall. People were leaning forward in their seats and clapping in appropriate spots. Everyone seemed happy.

The Minister started calling people up for Honorable Mention awards. Ginny was called up to receive one as well as almost every student who had fought. Even some teachers had.

Once everyone was settled again, the Minister spoke up. "I also have the privilege to present the Order of Merlin – Fourth Class to Mr. Fred Weasley and Mr. George Weasley. Their inventions contributed greatly to the success of the battle."

Fred and George were bright Weasley red as they each rose to accept their medals. Loud catcalls issued from around the Great Hall. Fred and George were well liked by the students and their pranks were (mostly) fondly remembered. Mrs. Weasley had tears streaming down her face. Her smile wide as she dabbed a handkerchief to her nose.

"I also would like to present an Order of Merlin – Third Class to Mr. Ronald Weasley, Miss Hermione Granger and Miss Michelle Avery for their efforts in garnering more support for the battle, efforts well above and beyond anything expected of them. Also Professors Filius Flitwick and Rubeus Hagrid in their efforts against the trolls."

Harry clapped wildly for his friends. Hagrid's eyes were streaming almost as bad as Mrs. Weasley's. He loudly blew his nose before going up to accept his medal.

"An Order of Merlin – Second Class is to be presented to Professor Severus Snape. His contributions in this war could never be underestimated. A second Order of Merlin – Second Class goes to Professor Albus Dumbledore. His lead in the battle against Lord Voldemort," Harry was impressed that she had said the name. She seemed to swallow hard as the expected gasps traveled the room before she continued, "will never be forgotten. You have our gratitude, Albus.

"Additional Orders of Merlin – Second Class go to Miss Cho Chang and Mr. Michael Corner. Their untiring efforts to rid the school of the Dementors saved many people from getting Kissed. We shall not forget your bravery and determination in the face of opposition."

The clapping rose again as the two students and their Headmaster received their award. Harry's hands were getting sore from clapping so hard. Cho was openly crying as she stumbled back to her table where her mother and brother sat. They were crying as well.

"Finally, I would like to award the Order of Merlin – First Class to Harry Potter. Without his efforts and examples in leadership, our world would be a different place today." Harry blinked. His friends were shoving him from his seat and pushing him towards the stage. He walked in a daze. "Mr. Potter, there are no words to express the gratitude we, the wizarding world have for you." The Minister lifted a medal and placed it over his head. The room became deafening in the thundering applause. Flashbulbs exploded from every direction. "Would you say some words, Mr. Potter?"

A speech. Why did they want him to make a speech? Harry knew he should have expected something like this, but he hadn't. Well, if they wanted him to say something, he had a few more people to acknowledge. He stepped forward.

"Thank you. I appreciate the honor you are giving me with this award and the honor you've given the others before me with their awards, but I feel it is incomplete. I did my part, just the same as the others did theirs. But there are so many more that if they hadn't gotten themselves involved, things would have turned out differently, no matter our efforts. The ghosts and Peeves asked to help defend their home. Defend they did. Their distractions and information gathering helped immeasurably in keeping the attackers off balance. The werewolves who defended outside the gates. Several of them died protecting the school. Grawp and Minno, two giants, helped defeat trolls and Death Eater's at risk to themselves. Firenze, a centaur, helped bridge the gap in understanding between wizards and centaurs by teaching and reaching out to his herd. The centaur clan in the forest, with this new understanding, ably defended the school against the Acromantula that attacked. Dobby, a house elf, bravely asked other house elves to help in defending the castle or protecting the injured and getting them to aid at great risk to themselves. Gilly, another house elf, came up with a way to help protect the students remaining inside the castle. Then there's Kruge. You probably don't know much about him. He's a goblin. He sacrificed his life by facing Voldemort himself." Harry had to pause to let people get over him saying the name. "Kruge has to be one of the bravest beings I have ever seen. He is the reason there are so few Death Eater's on the loose today. His sacrifice is what brought such swift safety to the wizarding world."

The Great Hall was silent. Harry got the impression he'd just stunned everybody without even uttering _stupefy_. Harry just gave a small shrug and continued. "I just ask that when you think of what happened remember that it wasn't just wizards fighting. There were many intelligent beings who, even though not always treated well by wizards, consciously made the decision to fight for what was right. They did not take the easy choice and leave us on our own, but stood by our side. Without them, we wouldn't have won."

Harry stepped back and off the stage. It wasn't until he was almost to his seat the clapping started again. It started off slow, but grew to a thunderous ovation. Hermione and Ginny were smiling at him proudly as he reached their side.

* * *

The next day was a giant party. Harry had asked Professor Dumbledore if he could provide the food and refreshments as a thank you to all who helped fight. The Great Hall was open to any and all. Long tables were set up with an assortment of food all day long. Butterbeer, pumpkin juice and other drinks (even muggle) were supplied and house elves happily ran back and forth making sure everything was full. Harry just asked that students say thank you to a house elf when they saw one. For the house elves, nothing could have been better.

At mid-morning he was surprised to see a small contingent of goblins walk into the Great Hall. Among them were Ragnok and Griphook. He excused himself from Ernie and Hannah and walked over to greet them. He saw Professor Dumbledore and Professor Snape across the hall also approaching.

"Hello," Harry smiled at the goblins.

Ragnok nodded his head in return. "Mr. Potter."

"Would you care for anything to eat?" The two professors had now joined them. Professor Dumbledore seemed quite curious at their presence, Professor Snape seemed rather reluctant to join. Several of the goblins didn't seem too pleased to see him either.

"Thank you, but no."

Professor Dumbledore broke in. "Would you care for a more private place to chat?" At their agreement, he led them to the small antechamber off the Great Hall. Professor Snape stayed near the door.

Ragnok cleared his throat. "Mr. Potter, we heard your speech last night." At Harry's surprised look, Ragnok continued. "It was broadcast over the Wizarding Wireless Network. We were curious. How did you know Kruge? As far as I knew, you had only seen him once and he never spoke in your presence."

Harry's eyes held sadness as he remembered the vision. "I hadn't met him beyond that one time." At the look from the goblins, Harry continued gesturing to his scar. "I had a connection to Voldemort. I could sometimes see visions of things that happened in his presence. I saw Kruge's response to his offer." Harry met the eyes of the head goblin directly. "I've never seen such dignity and bravery before. At the time I didn't understand why he seemed…triumphant…about what was happening. Later I asked Professor Dumbledore and he explained some of his history."

Ragnok nodded his head. "He was a friend of mine. He will be greatly missed. He rarely spoke since his family died and so we could not ignore his words when he offered this plan upon Lord Voldemort's request that we join him." The last words were spat out as if they caused a bad taste in the goblins mouth.

There was a moment of silence while each remembered the fallen goblin. Finally one of the goblins cleared his throat and said something quietly in another language. Ragnok shook off his momentary melancholia.

"Mr. Potter, we are here for more than just our curiosity. Goblins are a race who believe in vendetta. Kruge's family is no more. Before he was killed he asked that whoever would obtain revenge on his family's deaths would be the one to inherit his holdings. You, Mr. Potter, are the instrument of the revenge. You are to be the inheritor of his holdings."

"But…" Harry didn't know what to say. How could he inherit from a goblin he didn't know?

Ragnok seemed to understand. "It has never before happened that a wizard inherited anything from a goblin. Never has ownership of any mine or smelting plant been passed out of goblin control. Many had reservations on this happening…until last night. Last night you proved that you are different. Your respect for Kruge as well as other goblins and races have overcome any lasting resistance."

"But…" Harry still didn't know what to say. A wheezing chuckle snapped him out of his shock. Griphook was amused by him again. "Mr. Potter, as your financial advisor, I would recommend you close your mouth and finish listening to what you need to do to receive your inheritance."

Harry's jaw snapped shut with a click. More snickers could be heard and several goblins seemed to be fighting smiles.

"Mr. Potter, to claim the inheritance left for you, all you need to do is take the mark of Kruge's clan. The symbol will mark you as an equal of the goblins." Harry looked to his headmaster for guidance. He trusted the goblins but he didn't know much about their culture. His headmaster gave a nod.

"I don't know much about your culture or society. What all will this bind me to?"

Ragnok gave a small smile. "It binds you to nothing. Your life will continue to be your own. The mark will only be a sign of the acceptance of the inheritance and will give you some protections should you near a goblin settlement. We are more spread out than you would think. Most Death Eater's quickly learned to avoid the bank, but they failed to know where our mines or other dwellings are. Though some will be learning, over and over again." Ragnok gave a small smirk towards Snape. Snape's face was expressionless.

Harry finally realized why Snape seemed so uncomfortable near the goblins. He carried the Dark Mark. Though the power of the mark had faded, the mark itself was still there as a faint outline of a scar.

Before he lost his courage, Harry began. "Professor Snape actively worked against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Publicly during the last battle. He was almost the one to obtain the revenge by killing Tom Riddle. Professor Dumbledore said you can sometimes change a mark for marriage. Do you think you could change or remove his mark so he won't get the same punishment as the others?"

Harry could sense Professor Snape straightening up near the door. Harry knew he'd probably never be forgiven for this, but it would be worth a try. Ragnok looked from one to the other. He then had a brief conversation with those around him. Professor Dumbledore was smiling at Harry. His eyes bright behind his half moon glasses.

Ragnok then gave a nod to the other goblins and turned back to Harry. "You are certain?" Harry nodded, not looking at his professor. Ragnok turned to Snape. "You would be willing to take Veritaserum in front of us?"

Professor Snape's dark eyes glittered. "Yes."

Ragnok spoke to one of his entourage briefly and he quickly left the room. He gave a nod to Snape. "We'll use some from our own stores. In the meantime…Mr. Potter?"

Ragnok motioned for Harry to kneel before him. With just a touch high on his shoulder and a slight tingle, it was done. Harry looked to see the faint outline of a bird claw on his shoulder. It was small and wasn't that bad.

"You are now the holder of all the Kruge line of possessions. Griphook?" The goblin stepped up to his leader. "Will you explain to Mr. Potter what he now possesses?"

Harry's head was soon spinning with the mention of mines and partnerships as well as one of the finest silver collections in existence. Eventually his head started to ache. "Griphook, I'll trust you to stand for me in whatever needs deciding. I put you in charge of all of this inheritance. Hire whoever you feel should be hired to help manage everything. You know much better than I what problems might come up. I'd like to meet sometime this summer to go over everything better, but until then, you have total control." Even he could see the approval in the other goblins eyes. He thought it was a good move to put a goblin in charge of the goblin inheritance. Despite what was said about his being accepted as the recipient, he was sure not every goblin was happy about it. The less he tried to take control he thought, the better. He'd let them have some time to get used to the idea and he would take some time to read up on the goblins. Then he would take his lead from Griphook's suggestions.

In a low voice, Ragnok asked, "What about the Fund?" His voice wasn't low enough as Dumbledore and Snape's heads whipped up.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. "Keep it open until there's been a year with no activity. Then anything left can roll back under Griphook's control."

At that moment the goblin that had left, returned. Harry stood up. "If my part is done, I believe I'll return to the party. If you need anything, just let me know." Harry didn't want to be there when they questioned Snape. Well, part of him did, but more of him didn't.

Harry rejoined his friends. They were wide eyed as he explained what the goblins wanted with him. After some time, Professor Dumbledore joined them.

"That was a very kind thing you did, Harry."

His friends looked at him in confusion. Harry looked back at his Headmaster. "Did it work?"

"Yes. His mark is removed. Professor Snape has decided to return to his chambers. He never did deal well with excess emotions. He had never believed he would be rid of it." The old wizards eyes lit up. "By the way, Harry, what have you planned for this summer?"

Harry started to fidget. "I've been invited to spend time at the Weasleys. I'd like to spend my time between there and my house. I thought we could keep the trunks as a sort of doorway between the two and go back and forth. I've sort've thought Neville might be willing to stop by and look at my grounds, too, and get them in some kind of order."

The old wizard nodded. "If you would like, I could look into getting the floo connection hooked up. I would like to take another look at your wards, but I believe they would keep any undesirables away from your property and keep your privacy intact."

Harry took in a breath of relief. He was going to get to stay at the Weasley's.

The Headmaster suddenly looked very serious. "I ask you just one thing." Harry returned his full attention to his Headmaster. "If you need to go out in public, could you make sure you have at least one member of the Order with you? Just until you are of age and can freely use your wand? I'm sure if the Weasleys are unavailable, Remus would take the time. He will be having much more free time on his hands now."

Harry quickly agreed. As much as he didn't like a guard, it was only for a little over a month and he didn't think he'd have too many places he'd need to go in that time.

He made arrangements that he would go home with the Weasleys from the Hogwarts Express and meet with Dumbledore the next day to go over the wards. With a smile the Headmaster left.

That night, Harry decided he had it all. Neither could live while the other survived. This was Harry's time to live. He had Remus, Ron and Hermione, Ginny, the rest of the Weasleys and his house elves. He had family. He gave a short laugh as he thought he could almost add Griphook and Ragnok to that group. He had the best of friends and family. What more could anyone ask?

_Fin_.


End file.
